We got lucky with Mazzy. I realize that now. Mazzy gets sick fairly often but beyond the wretching cough and the runny faucet she calls a nose, the colds don’t register much with her. She’s still her same cheery self. She’s got high energy and wants to play outside. Her smile doesn’t fade for a second.
Harlow, on the other hand, is absolutely miserable when she gets sick. She doesn’t just get the physical symptoms, she gets the mental ones too. She’s irritable, she’s sad, she doesn’t want to be touched— oh wait, she does want to be touched— oh no, she doesn’t— oh, yes she does— OH MY GOD I THINK SHE JUST BIT MY HAND OFF.
Harlow’s always been a little volatile. She likes to stomp her feet and cross her arms and is quick to turn on the water works (at Level 11, for all you Spinal Tap fans). I don’t know if this is just the way she is or it’s all stuff she’s learned from her big sis— I’m betting it’s a lot of the latter— but I do know, Harlow’s misery tugs at my heart strings like none other.
I have never seen a sadder looking sad face than Harlow’s sad face.
Harlow’s sick today. She has been since Friday. It has turned my house upside down. Her eyes are swollen and watery, her nose is stuffed and crusty and when she’s not crying bloody murder because LIFE SUCKS SO HARD, she reclaims her position as “lump on the couch”.
I just better turn on the right show without too much Apple TV lag time or else I’ll get barked at. It’s amazing the treatment I put up with when Harlow is sick.
“Would you like some water?”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Okay, sweetie. I love you.”
The hardest part is dealing with Mazzy who doesn’t realize she’s supposed to treat Sick Harlow with extra tender loving care. Mazzy is still trying to take Harlow’s toys and getting mad when Harlow gets her TV choice and coming just an inch too close to her little sis on the couch.
“Give your sister her space!” I find myself yelling.
“Just let her play with your things today— it’s not a big deal!”
“Harlow doesn’t want to share. BACK OFF!”
It’s not fair to Mazzy, I know, but I can deal with the wrath of a semi-rational five-year-old way better than I can deal with Harlow’s crying runny nosed face of PURE MISERY. Plus the shrieking is high-pitched and unbearable. She’s shrieked so much in the past 72 hours, her tiny little voice has a Beverly DeAngelo quality rasp going on. Which just makes it even sadder that her shrieks don’t carry quite as much weight as they did three days ago.
My weekend was basically walking on egg shells around my sick two-year-old. Trying to give her everything necessary to avoid sudden freak outs.
Sick Harlow will get upset over even more ridiculous things than Not Sick Harlow. Like if a drop of syrup gets on her pajamas or her chair isn’t pulled close enough to the table. Sick Harlow can’t get it together enough to communicate her issues either so it will take a full fifteen minutes of screaming before I realize the problem with the eggs (she just requested) is a tiny brown burned spot that has made the entire plate inedible.
Sick Harlow gets to eat her waffles on the couch because that’s where she wants them and I don’t have the heart to stick to my own rules.
Sick Harlow coughs in the night so much that when she stops coughing, I sneak into her room to make sure she is still alive.
Sick Harlow gets up at 3am demanding bread and I don’t know how to talk her down or say “no” so I spend the next four hours on the couch with her head resting on my chest while nibbling a roll, dozing in and out and delirious in a pile of crumbs until morning.
Sick Harlow can only nap while lying completely on top of me so I play with my phone over her head until the battery almost runs out and then text Mike to bring me my iPad and he has to sneak in like he’s Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment and hide under the bed when Harlow shifts her head.
Last night was the worst yet. Harlow went to sleep fine. And I actually put myself to bed early to catch up on sleep. But then, just when I was dozing off, I saw a tiny figure approach my bed in the dark.
Mazzy will typically crawl into my bed around 5am so I thought it was her. But it was way too early for Mazzy to make an appearance and this shadowy figure appeared to be way smaller.
Oh shit. Is it Harlow?
I tried to adjust my eyes as the figure continued to approach.
Oh my god, yes it’s Harlow. HOLY CRAP. How did she get out of her crib???? Oh wait. Is Harlow disappearing?
I watched the little figure fade away to nothing.
OH MY GOD!!! It’s the ghost of Harlow!
Then I screamed (like for real) and slowly processed that I had just hallucinated Harlow approaching me in the dark.
Was this a mother’s intuition thing???
I ran into Harlow’s room to make sure she was breathing. She was.
Nope. Just me having a mental breakdown from lack of sleep.
I tried to go back to bed but couldn’t. I was all freaked out and didn’t want anymore ghost toddlers visiting me in the night.
And that’s when I realized…
Shit. I am getting sick.
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ugh…I feel your pain…my son has been sick off and on since Thanksgiving. Its been a combo of teething and him having an actual virus. I’m hoping we get a little breather before his last 4 molars come in. Hope you feel better soon!
Poor Harlow! It is hard to have them sick, especially so young when they get hysterical at everything. My son sounds horrible when he coughs at night and like you said, the only thing worse than coughing is when they randomly stop because you have to make sure they are ok. I have never seen a ghost baby but I hear the phantom coughs that wake me in the middle of the night.
My 2 year old is fine during the day when she’s sick, but she stops sleeping at night. I don’t mean that she wakes up several times during the night, I mean she completely stops sleeping. I will forever remember the 2 weeks from hell that nearly killed me when she was 1 and had a minor cold. I was pregnant with her little brother and already exhausted, but I managed to survive (barely) on 1-2 hours of sleep a night. I even managed to keep my 2 oldest kids alive too!
Holy Crap this is our house right now… including scary hallucinations…. I should probably be napping while she is actually napping
My two year old got croup right before Christmas and of course passed it on to me (bronchitis stuff) since she slept on top of me every night and coughed all over me. I was completely miserable during Christmas and the week after. I have since vowed to wear a mask next time a sickness rolls around. I get all sensitive and cuddly since I feel sorry for her and let my guard down! Not happening again.
Only you could turn such a miserable situation into something so funny. And boy did I need this laugh today. It sounds like a lot of us are in the same boat this winter, and I’m currently nursing an irrational hatred of my daughters otherwise wonderful preschool for getting her sick every 2 to 3 weeks.
Harlow sounds just like my 4-yr old boy!! He seems to get a cold after cold. And just when the major cold season ends, seasonal allergy season starts! The crankiness and stuffy nose seem to be in a never ending cycle!
Oh no, I feel so bad.. But I have to admit when I read the part starting at “oh shit is it Harlow”… I was laughing so loud. I hope she feels better soon, for everyone’s sake
Poor Harlow (and your entire family)! Hope things get back to normal soon. 🙂
I’m so right there with you! Sick child for 7 weeks……she gets it, gives it to Mom and Dad, we all get better and now it’s round 2. Lack of sleep helps the germs spread….LOL
I hope your precious baby feels better soon and you too!
Thank you Ilana for your posts. Even though this one is more to feel sorry bout. I just need to thank you for making my evenings fun when my husband decides it’s play station evening. I thought it would be a phase but well, almost being 34 he still does them. FML. But then Mommy shorts comes to the rescue! Hope your little one and you feel better soon!
If you have any friends that use young living oils, ask one of them to drop some off for you. They totally help with all kinds of sickness, especially a blend called “thieves”. Mixed with some lotion and rubbed on feet and chest, you will start to feel better the same day. They are all natural, distilled from plants and flowers. You won’t regret it!
Hope both you and sweet Harlow feel better soon! This post was hilarious, and made me feel bad laughing at your -and Harlows- misery. But I laughed anyway.
Oh, I’m so sorry! Sick kids are the worst!
My 5 year old had the stomach flu so I made him stay in his room. Unlimited iPad time (when he wasn’t falling asleep and cuddling with it), food in his room – whatever he wanted.
When he started to feel better and had to go to school, it was a full meltdown as to why he couldn’t stay in his room with his iPad and eat his meals there.
I know that they are the sick ones, but I think it’s hardest on the mom. Hang in there!
My middle one was sick recently and the hardest part is coping with the sick one and the other siblings who don’t get it! The first day was ok as she wanted to be in bed sleeping (although bless her, she did vomit up her bedroom walls which was gross). By the next day she made it to the couch where she lay watching terrible movies while the baby tried to pull her to play with him by her hair. Not popular. The eldest wanted to stay home to argue over which terrible movie to watch but didn’t feel bad enough to lose his 100% attendance at school (he’s a bit “driven” (weird) like that). But then wanted his “turn” to be treated like the ailing patient on his return. Cue brother strops, sister weeping and more baby hair pulling. Not a great mix on top of the vomit/teething/small children induced parental sleep deprivation. Hope you get a restful night with no special visitors! I feel your pain….
Sounds like a major kick in the pants at your house because you can’t lay on the couch like a lump when you’re sick. I did like the “this one goes to 11” reference. Too funny!
More wittle BABY
When I was younger, I always got irrationally jealous whenever my little sister got sick. Even at the time I knew I was being unreasonable, but it was just really hard for me watching my sister getting so much attention from my parents, and having to constantly be super nice to my sister even though she was just being annoying and whiny in return. I knew she was sick and it wasn’t her fault, but it was hard not to feel annoyed and jealous. I almost never got sick, which was probably part of why I felt that way, and also my sister was (is) kind of a hypochondriac.
All this is to say that as a fellow older sister and non-adult, I kind of see where Mazzy’s coming from. I hope poor Harlow feels better, for everyone’s sake!
I hope Harlow feels better! My 2 year old is finally getting over the flu that she’s had the whole past week and I can so relate to them sleeping on top of you (as if that’s really comfortable) and playing with your phone over their head, and also checking in on them after a coughing fit. Although I’ve never had a toddler ghost come visit me and I hope to never get one!
The other night DH and I were collapsed in the recliners at 3 am while our almost 2 year old watched Mickey Mouse. The screaming that led up to this was more than we could bear, but I guess it was payback for all the nose wiping and crusty gold mining I was dishing out. Last night she slept all night long, but I woke up like my head was full of rocks. I knew I shouldn’t have shared a spoon with her. Who will bring me tissues, chicken soup, and let me watch Archer all day?
Just got over the sickness here tooand there is nothing worse than a sick nonlingual toddler. Teething, a runny nose, a cough, and two ear infections all in one little body plus mom and dad had colds. it was a rough few days.