11.08.2011

Sick Day


Dear Friends,
He's been sick a lot this year. Maybe just due to the going to school thing... maybe just bad luck.


Here he is hanging out on the couch, missing school and feeling cruddy.

(he's checking out a get-well picture a school friend colored for him)

 
I hate it when my kids are sick.
Hate it that they are hurting.
Hate giving them yucky medicines that make me nervous.
Hate the possibilities of having to take them to the doctor.
Hate the fear that it might get worse or turn into something truly terrifying.


But a sick day does have a few perks...

I don't mind the extra cuddly nature my kids get when they are not feeling their best. The way they gravitate to quiet activities and just want to stay in one place. The way I feel the need to completely shift my focus to caring for their little, sick body. The way all my own plans, schedules and to-do lists slide away and make room for the full-on insticts of mother love.

My unwell child becomes the center of my mama-universe.

I build them a "nest", a cozy, warm, comfy spot full of blankets, pillows, busy-work and whatever appropriate fuids/snacks they can handle. We climb in, fluff our feathers, I settle him under my wing... prepared for whatever this sick day will bring. 

I'm a hen... nesting is what I do.

Love,
All Better Now in NE

P.S. I must confess this activity is good for me in another way... reminds me of what I'm NOT being as a mother THE REST OF THE TIME. I always come out of it feeling like I want to be more in tune with them, less selfish with my time, more patient... less eager to coax them into flight.

6 comments:

  1. dear Nurturing-Nester,

    yep, that is what its all about....and you are doing it well. Glad my Sweet-T is better.

    love,
    Remembering those same feelings
    at
    SunnyBrooke
    in
    NE

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  2. The thing I have been thinking about and trying to incorporate with my kids (even if they are teens)is a little more just sitting around doing nothing in their vicinity. It works somehow.

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  3. I totally get where you are coming from in this post! They always need a mother's touch when it comes to not feeling well. I would even take that now. ;-)

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  4. I am so glad to have a futon in our living room. When my son is sick (which is not too often thank goodness)we turn the futon into a bed and he lays there all day listening to story tapes.

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  5. Ugh...so sorry you're dealing with it too. Jacob missed school yesterday and today because of being sick. I'm like you, I have mixed feelings about it all - hate that my kid is sick, but love the extra cuddles I get. Except this time, I've been cleaning up "tossed cookies". yuck!! Here's hoping both of our boys get well SOON!

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  6. Ugh! Must be the week for sickness. Gotta love those snuggly babies, but not the workout the laundry room gets! Hope all's well there now :) We're on the mend here.

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