There Is No Substitute For Mom
I was working on a project last night around 9:30 when Eli came padding into the room. He’d been in bed for over an hour, and now here he stood, looking distraught, his arms held out in a drooping cruciform. “Daddy,” he said, and “daddy.”
Then the smell hit me.
We went into his room to clean up his supper and a good portion of his lunch, which was now on his bed, his clothes, and his two favorite stuffed animals. We whisked everything off and to the washing machine.
(I guess I should have warned you about the vomit ahead of time. Sorry! Think of it this way: you got as much warning as we did.)
Eli sat with Misty while I cleaned up. “I’m sorry,” he told us several times. He then vomited again into a metal bowl I’d grabbed for such an emergency. “Thank you for cleaning me up.”
He proceeded to throw up every fifteen to twenty minutes. I offered to sit with Eli, but he was having none of that. He wanted mom. They read and watched TV before settling down to fitful dozing. I brought paper towels and cleaned out the metal bowl as needed. Misty finally sent me to get some sleep around midnight, and at 1 Eli had been asleep long enough that we felt safe to put him to bed. I stumbled out of bed to help get him to his. He was so tired that he tripped over the edge of his bed, fell face first into the mattress, and was asleep again.
He got up at 6, but now he’s back in bed. Don’t expect much from us today.
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Comment by Geof F. Morris
Guh. That’s no good.
And I love my dad, but … yeah, I always wanted Mom when I was sick, too. Still do, kinda. When I had the flu a month back, I called and whined to her for a while just so I would feel better about it.
Posted on April 21, 2007 at 10:33 am
Comment by Paul O'Brian
UGH. Sympathy to all three of you.
Posted on April 21, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Comment by Jacqueline
You know, this may be Eli’s lucky day! I had a nasty similar event when I was four, and was evidently so disgusted by it that I haven’t thrown up since. (Seriously, haven’t managed to do it in, oh, 29 years now… despite having Norwalk virus at one point.)
Perhaps this is the last time you’ll ever have to deal with this, at least with Eli. Hope so, and hope he gets to feeling better soon!
Posted on April 21, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Comment by Yoon Ha Lee
Yikes. Hope he gets better soon.
Posted on April 21, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Comment by Joyous
How amusingly bittersweet that he apologizes and thanks you.
Posted on April 23, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Comment by Pop
It has been my observation, from my brief and unlamented military career and from my longer and more satisfying life as an historian that no matter how old males are, when things get really, REALLY bad, they want their mommies.
Posted on April 23, 2007 at 6:54 pm