Sick

Pinning his arms to his side, he lets out a gutteral scream as his face turns an alarming shade of red. Squirming to be free, we ease the syringe of thick, chalky white fluid into his mouth. A gurgle. Another scream. And then ... PFFFFT. I now resemble a grape scented Jackson Pollock painting.

So even after 12 years of parenting, getting a baby to take their medicine is hard. Some tricks work, once or twice, then the kid gets wise and you have to think of something else. We finally figured out how to get Max to take his medicine with a 10-15 minute process of sneaking it into spoonfuls of smoothie, 1/4 of a milliliter at a time. 

Being sick seems to be an everyday event in our house. Someone is always fighting something off. Rarely is it me; as my own mother says "mom's can't get sick." We feel a tickle in our throat or a pressure in our sinuses and deny, deny, deny. 

So far this year, we've had two bouts of ear infections, a sinus infection, a sinus surgery, a sore throat, a near miss with appendicitis and one particularly nasty case of hand, foot and mouth disease. It is only February. 

We are neither germaphobes, nor are we untidy or dirty but simply citizens of the world. I had to come to terms a long time ago with the fact that my kids are just going to get sick, and it's not my fault. I know I'm not alone as I stare around the ever crowded pediatrician's waiting room at the other weary care-worn parents. 

It seems like I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for there to be "the big one." A broken arm. A stomach that needs to be pumped. Something worse. I'm always holding my breath and brushing off thoughts of the worst as they climb trees, eat questionable buffet food and whine about ever-present growing pains. 

But, we roll up our sleeves and persist. We make the doctors appointments and try to remember to be grateful that we have health insurance and access to doctors. In the mean time, if you find that we've been MIA, know we aren't hiding from you; we're just trying to keep our germs to ourselves.