This picture actually isn't all that bad. She perked up when she saw the camera, and even gave us a little smile. What you can't really make out is the fact that her sleeper is almost entire soaked with slobber and snot--and this after she's only been awake for less than a half hour.She's miserable. She's all stuffed up and coughing and her eyes are all puffy and she's just generally not a very happy little button right now.
But here's my prediction.
People generally deal with being sick in one of two ways. The first category of people wants to be left alone to sleep and recuperate and convalesce at their own pace. Sometimes this might be because they don't like to be messed with when they're sick, sometimes they just don't like to put the added burden on other people--because, really, who wants to be around a sick person? The second type of person is the kind who likes to share the suffering. If they are sick, then everyone is going to know it. There is no silent suffering. The suffering is big and bold and in everyone's face. The maximum amount of sympathy and pampering is expected.
I fall into the first category. I hate bothering other people when I'm sick. I want to be left well enough alone to sleep or watch a movie or do some reading if I feel up to it. I get my own drinks and crackers or whatever else I feel as though I need. Libby falls into the second category, god love her (hopefully she doesn't read this post . . .). When she's not well, you'd think that her leprous hand had just fallen into her soup, or that her black plague buboes had just burst into her cake batter--every five to ten minutes--with the wailing and gnashing of teeth she produces. Every ailment is epic and she becomes very nearly an invalid until it passes. If there was a way that she could get me to go to the bathroom for her, I'm certain that she would expect me to do it, that's how much she doesn't like to get her own things around (of course, she's kind of like this even when she's healthy--unless she happens to be near the fridge when she wants a soda, there's a 70% chance that she'll ask me to get it even if I'm clearly busier than she is).
Gabe, I think, is still on the fence. He's generally faced all of his colds with bravery, or at least indifference, but he's really only been SICK that one time two weeks ago (well, that he can remember, he had a few nasty bouts of stuff when he was an infant, but he wouldn't remember that). He was pretty needy two weeks ago, but who can blame him for that--he is only two and a half and this was the first time he'd experienced puking, that can be understandably unsettling. So, right now, I feel like he could go either way.
But I predict that Norah is going to be a drama queen when she's sick. I kind of suspect she's going to be a drama queen MOST of the time, but I'm still hopeful that I can steer her away from that over the next couple of years (though I think I might already be failing miserably at preventing Gabe from becoming one, so I might just be a drama queen enabler or something). She is SO put upon right now. She's flailing around and giving us all dirty looks because she's uncomfortable and we're not fixing it immediately. Everything pisses her off. Put her down? She cries and wants to be picked up. Pick her up? She cries and wants to be put down. Play with her and she'll want to be left alone, leave her alone and she'll want to be distracted. And of course she won't sleep because, for some reason, the last thing a sick baby wants to do is sleep.
I took a little video, hoping I'd get some of her sneezing because it's really quite impressive. I'm not sure where she stores all the snot. A few times it's seemed like she must have completely emptied her sinuses considering how much mucous was running down her face onto her shirt. But I didn't have any luck catching anything disgusting. I'll share the video anyway, just because I have it.
But here's my prediction.
People generally deal with being sick in one of two ways. The first category of people wants to be left alone to sleep and recuperate and convalesce at their own pace. Sometimes this might be because they don't like to be messed with when they're sick, sometimes they just don't like to put the added burden on other people--because, really, who wants to be around a sick person? The second type of person is the kind who likes to share the suffering. If they are sick, then everyone is going to know it. There is no silent suffering. The suffering is big and bold and in everyone's face. The maximum amount of sympathy and pampering is expected.
I fall into the first category. I hate bothering other people when I'm sick. I want to be left well enough alone to sleep or watch a movie or do some reading if I feel up to it. I get my own drinks and crackers or whatever else I feel as though I need. Libby falls into the second category, god love her (hopefully she doesn't read this post . . .). When she's not well, you'd think that her leprous hand had just fallen into her soup, or that her black plague buboes had just burst into her cake batter--every five to ten minutes--with the wailing and gnashing of teeth she produces. Every ailment is epic and she becomes very nearly an invalid until it passes. If there was a way that she could get me to go to the bathroom for her, I'm certain that she would expect me to do it, that's how much she doesn't like to get her own things around (of course, she's kind of like this even when she's healthy--unless she happens to be near the fridge when she wants a soda, there's a 70% chance that she'll ask me to get it even if I'm clearly busier than she is).
Gabe, I think, is still on the fence. He's generally faced all of his colds with bravery, or at least indifference, but he's really only been SICK that one time two weeks ago (well, that he can remember, he had a few nasty bouts of stuff when he was an infant, but he wouldn't remember that). He was pretty needy two weeks ago, but who can blame him for that--he is only two and a half and this was the first time he'd experienced puking, that can be understandably unsettling. So, right now, I feel like he could go either way.
But I predict that Norah is going to be a drama queen when she's sick. I kind of suspect she's going to be a drama queen MOST of the time, but I'm still hopeful that I can steer her away from that over the next couple of years (though I think I might already be failing miserably at preventing Gabe from becoming one, so I might just be a drama queen enabler or something). She is SO put upon right now. She's flailing around and giving us all dirty looks because she's uncomfortable and we're not fixing it immediately. Everything pisses her off. Put her down? She cries and wants to be picked up. Pick her up? She cries and wants to be put down. Play with her and she'll want to be left alone, leave her alone and she'll want to be distracted. And of course she won't sleep because, for some reason, the last thing a sick baby wants to do is sleep.
I took a little video, hoping I'd get some of her sneezing because it's really quite impressive. I'm not sure where she stores all the snot. A few times it's seemed like she must have completely emptied her sinuses considering how much mucous was running down her face onto her shirt. But I didn't have any luck catching anything disgusting. I'll share the video anyway, just because I have it.
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