Friday, February 25, 2011

What Else Can Go Wrong Here?

My boys are all sick. Ben is definately on the mend, Mitchell is right in the middle of it, and Jack is just starting. Fun. How I am not sick is a mystery to me.

Ben was well enough to send to school today, but Mitchell was still coughing a pretty nasty sounding cough, so with a desire to keep his teacher on my good side, I decided to keep him home with me. Only about half an hour after school would normally have started for him though, he seemed good as new and I was wondering what in the world I would do with him for the next few hours that I normally don't have to plan things for him!

I suddenly remembered that our neighborhood McDonald's recently remodeled their play room and we hadn't checked it out yet, so I packed my sick(ish) little boys up and we headed off for some lunch and playtime.

The moment we stepped through the door, I knew I had made a mistake. The place was PACKED! The remodel had taken over half of the restaurant, devoting it to a play place for the little ones. Great news, right? Well, not so great if you have hungry boys and no where to sit! We ended up sitting on tall bar chairs, balancing while trying to eat. Half way through the meal, Mitchell needed the restroom in an emergent way and we had to get there NOW! Well, I had lunch items to pack up, boys to get down from bar stools, jackets to grab and carry, purse to find somewhere in the mess, giant 1-year-old to carry because he refuses to follow me if left to walk on his own... we got there in time - barely.

I gave up on eating anything after that, poured my undrunk (and gross) coffee down the drain, and headed to the playroom. It was a zoo. Here in the city, it is difficult to find free ways to entertain your children indoors, so the nannies were taking full advantage of this place! I think each nanny must have had 6 kids with her, or else someone was just dropping their kids off and coming back for them later. The kid to adult ratio just didn't add up...

Mitchell and Jack played for about 10 minutes before Mitchell started coughing. A normal cough at first, which is usually my sign to get out the cough medicine. As I did not have it with me, it quickly progressed to a more persistent and wet sounding cough. After only a few minutes, he was coughing so hard and so often that he had to come sit down and there were only a few seconds between coughs. Next comes the cough-induced gagging, which was my sign to grab coats, purse, 4 year old, and toddler and try to get shoes back on before the vomiting started. I could feel every woman's "evil eye" on me (rightfully so) as I desperately tried to get out of there before I further infected the other children and, more importantly, before he threw up!

Just as I was getting the first shoe on, the coughing intensified. Cue the gag reflex. Cue the vomit. I didn't realize he wasn't really chewing his food. The evidence of 4 whole orange wedges was enlightening to me. Thank goodness he didn't really have much of his lunch and we just had oranges and foul smelling water all over the floor (and one unfortunate woman's shoe... sorry...) Shoe #2 is now on and up comes the rest of the contents of his stomach. I was ready for it this time and I caught i (gross) and tossed it in the trash.

I didn't bother putting coats back on, but picked everything up, one kid under each arm (good thing I work out!) and ran out of there as fast as I could. I didn't even bother to wash my hands first. My first priority was to get away from the other children, then the people eating their lunches. Does it really matter if I wash my hands immediately if my shirt is covered in vomit anyways?

Poor Mitchell. It must be terrifying to cough until you vomit. I obviously took on more than he was ready for today, despite his feigned "recovery" this moning. I should have been satisfied staying indoors in our jammies, coloring and watching The Land Before Time. Lesson learned... I hope...

2 comments:

  1. Ugh - sounds like us. We are all sick except Maine. And, of course, we are supposed to be in the city all weekend at a hotel (ugh!) for Mark's mom's bday. I have been up the majority of the night with Wells, who is crying for an unknown reason, and Gibson who has puked twice. But your story takes the cake. You deserve mom of the day award.

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  2. Oh man. Coughing till u puke! Thats aweful! And that is sooome cough! Poor guy. And impressive reflexes. Barf catching and kid hauling alike!

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