SIck Baby

Bad enough is the pain stacking issue of treating a sick child. Especially when life goes on around you and including having a healthy kid and husband go on with their regular days. It makes sleeping impossible and smiling a ridiculous notion.
I turn into the beast formerly known as mommy.
Right now our toddler is CRANKY!

He just goes around saying "mama" on repeat in a shrill voice and every 15 seconds throwing an object for emphasis. Obviously inept at deciphering a sick child's screeching desires I just stare, try to get him to be quiet then give up. Eventually, if I stop looking at him he will go away or get really, REALLY loud.

How can I have patience after getting 4 hours of sleep the previous night , with about 45 minutes of those being in a rocking chair, rocking. Argh! Then last night waking up every hour to tell him to stop hitting my face or trying to stick his fingers in my mouth- why should he be the only one with a contagious virus?

This morning while trying to get some sleep- since I'm not getting any at night- the crying, whining, uncomfortably ill toddler snuggles up with me while drinking his only source of nutrition and then suddenly and without malice he spews the contents of his mouth and stomach into my hair and on my bare neck.

...I smell like nutrient shake and warmness. My hair looks like a mangled mess in one bunch to the top of my head. Like a a birds nest perched on my head. So now what? I can't jump up and shower. I can't stand to shower while that little ick thing is crying his head off so I just go one with clump hair.

At least all I have to get done today is...return items to the library, go to the pharmacy, buy more Lysol antibacterial wipes, clean house for party tomorrow, shower, do several loads of laundry, call mom, get some actual work done -sewing and inventory-, make dinner, clean backyard, cry, scream, melt down, drink wine, deal with sick baby, play with healthy child and not give up on life--NOT MUCH!

Shower

Quiet, calm and clean. I enter my warm shower, my mind wanders as my body gets to relax. I think of it as a spa- I breath and relish in the tranquility.

Within moments along the shower curtain I sense something.

Long fingers, one by one grasp the curtain and slowly move it back a tad. Then more, until one eye is visible. I look into the eye and then a whole face emerges, looking at me longingly yet solemn. Quiet and calm are about to escape the shower, the bathroom and perhaps the whole house.

Get out of mommies shower! I yell.

Shrill yells begin as my toddler tries even harder to convince me that he needs to be in my shower.
"Agua" he says.
"No, its mommies shower -no water- get out."
He doesn't leave and I'm not giving in.
We go back and forth until he gets distracted by some toys I throw at him. I hope to get 5 more minutes and the water is getting cold.

He plays in a bucket of water with a squeeze toy and bottle of almost empty baby wash. He slaps the water and makes a mess all over the clean bathroom. My rug is soaked, my kid is soaked and my serene surroundings now look like a tiny tot water park.

When play time is no longer enough, he pulls back my shower curtain again and yells, while trying to lift one leg high enough to enter the tub.

"Get out!" Mommy needs to take shower by herself- leave me alone."

He cries, and cries, and because I didn't do anything about said crying he cries louder.

I haven't had a quiet, complete shower in 3 years. I'm lucky when I can remove the children from my hip long enough to get a shower in. I shouldn't be surprised.