teachable moment at 6:45am

the last few days we have been packing like crazy and otherwise removing all personal items from the walls and closets. but yesterday afternoon, i began to feel ill with stomach cramps. not uncommon in my life and i just assumed it was another example of my stomach hating me. i have to be careful with what i eat and drink, but sometimes it doesn't make a difference. well, by 8pm i was beginning to feel nauseous (also a pretty regular occurrence). jesse was heading out of town for the night (meetings in carbondale the next morning) and i decided to camp out on the couch for the rest of the night. i slept pretty fitfully and awoke suddenly a little after 6 to luca's cries from upstairs. i ran upstairs, almost falling over from the wave of nausea, and found him coughing violently. he was burning up (temp 102.8) and kept crying, "mama." i dispensed the tylenol, disrobed him from the footie jammies and we rested together in his bed while i stroked his back. when i began to hear gia noises coming from the next room, i asked luca if he wanted to stay in bed or if he wanted to relocate to the couch downstairs. as expected, he wanted to get up. i was grabbing some lightweight clothes to put on the boy, when i he began making miserable crying sounds. i turned from the closet and luca had this awful look on his face. he walked towards me so i could hug him, but part of me wanted to keep him at arm's length. good thing - the throw-up only partially covered my pajamas. he was so upset and confused. i threw some towels on the ground to clean-up and took him to the bathroom. while luca began drinking water from the sink faucet, i started to explain that next time he felt sick, we would try to throw-up in a bucket/bowl/bag or best yet the toilet. now i am all for teachable moments. after several years in a child development program at the u of i and three years of motherhood, i am convinced of their value and usefulness. what i was not expecting - to teach my son the importance of vomiting in a toilet by actually demonstrating the act. we shared some mother-son bonding for sure. i think he was slightly mollified by the extreme empathy.

luca was so sick that he fell asleep on the hardwood floor with the sun shining brightly. the bowl was for accidents.

(3/04 i wrote this yesterday and forgot to post it while fighting back sickness. thankfully, we all woke up this morning feeling normal. 24 hour flu bug i guess. we are still tired and weak, but no illness. during bedtime last night, luca threw-up again all over himself, his papi, and his bed. only fair that jesse share some of the joy!)