Tummy Trouble

I was in Heaven yesterday morning. I had a fresh pot of coffee brewing, Bruno Mars playing, and I was blogging away. Ethan was still asleep, and it was getting close to noon....it was beautiful. Then, for some crazy reason, I decided to go and check on him. I ignored Rule #1....never wake a sleeping baby. Although Ethan isn't a baby anymore, that rule still applies in this house. And I should have let Ethan sleep.

When I opened the door to his bedroom, he was sleeping. But he heard the creaking of the door open, he sat up, crawled out of bed & came to me for our routine morning hug. Now, usually, his hugs are pretty short because he is ready to play. However, on this day, he put his head on my shoulder & his arms around me....when usually his hug is more of a "lean into you & let you hug him". Thrilled with the rare treat of affection from my child, I picked him up & we swayed while he allowed the weight of his body to rest on me. Like I said...Heaven.

And then I felt it. His body started bucking. Oh man! He is about to get sick! And then he did...all over he & I. But, proudly, I didn't freak out! I actually remained calm and continued to encourage him to let his body do what it needed to do. Once he was done, we both changed clothes & headed for the bathroom....preparing for the next episode. As he started showing warning signs of more to come, I guided him to the toilet. Funny thing....he started to pull down his pants to go potty! I guess something from potty training is getting through to him! HA! When I realized what he thought we were in the bathroom for, I realized that I needed to teach my child how to be sick. So I did.....step by step instructions...just like I was teaching him to go potty...using a strategy that he responds well to....and he did!

I know it's strange to celebrate getting sick, but it is a victory. Ethan has a difficult time understanding non-concrete things...things like emotions or feelings. So "feeling sick" or "tummy hurts" are concepts he doesn't yet understand....let alone be able to communicate it to me. Poor kiddo just kept saying, "All done? Flush? All done? All done?...." But he did it! And when he was done, we cuddled in the recliner, sipped Gatorade (coffee for me) & watched Super Why together....Heaven.

Luckily, I had dealt with the same thing the day before, so I knew this wouldn't last long. And I knew he was feeling better when he looked up at me while snuggling and said, "Bacon? Yes! 10 pieces of bacon? (holding up all 10 of his little fingers) Yes!" Ha Ha! I love that kid!