Unfortunately, this not-so-supermom caught a really nasty beginning of the school year flu. (H1N1 to be exact). Honestly, I don't know if I have ever been more sick! This is now day 10 of being confined to bed, and it is getting OLD.
However, there is one upside to being ill. I get the privilege of being taken care of. This is a rare occurrence. As most parents know, usually it is us who are doing the care taking!
The following is a "how to" guide for caring for someone who is sick from Joshua's perspective.
FIRST- Make SURE the sick person has a trash can next to them. You never know when your stomach will be too upset to get to the bathroom. So, in walks Joshua with the huge kitchen garbage can. I asked him what he was doing with it and he said, "You so sick, mama. You need trash!" The funny thing is that I do not have a stomach bug, but this is neither here nor there to him.
SECOND- Feed the sick person. After the trash can was delivered, I could hear a whole lot of banging around going on in the kitchen. I have been trying to quarantine myself to my room as to ensure that no one else would catch this monstrosity of a flu. I called out, "Hey Joshy, whatcha doing in there?" There was a very long silence, then more banging around. UGH! Time to get this sick mama out of bed to check on what he was doing. I walk into the kitchen to find him cracking eggs into a bowl. (No shells were in the bowl. That is a feat for most adults!) I also saw that there was a pan on the stove top and that the burner was turned on. "Joshua, what are you doing in here?" I asked. "I cookin. You sick. You need love." I told him how thankful I was to have a boy who would cook for his mama, and then asked if we could finish the project together. Meltdown averted and the kitchen is not burned to the ground. Hooray for eggs and teamwork.
THIRD- Bring tissues...LOTS and LOTS of tissues. Once I was settled back in bed with my eggs, Joshy proceeded to find every single box of tissues that could be found in the house. 6 boxes, to be exact. He carefully lined the tissue boxes along the bedside table in order of their size, big to little. At this point I thanked him and then reminded him, for about the 5000th time that it would be best if he stayed far away from me so he would not get sick. He said, "You needin love. I take care of ya, mama." MELT MY HEART!!!
LAST- Make hot chocolate. Again I started hearing some banging around in the kitchen. "Joshy, what are you doing in there?" I managed to ask, just above a whisper. By this point, I was feeling so terrible that I almost didn't care if the house did catch fire, so long as I could stay in bed. Not really, but darn close! Anyway, there was another silence and then more banging around. "Joshua, you may NOT turn on the stove without a grown up, okay?" "K" he replied. The banging subsided and then in came Joshy with my pink sports water bottle FILLED to the top with "hot" (actually very cold) chocolate. "Oh Joshy, how kind of you to bring me a drink!" He beamed with pride. "I maked you chocolate. It make you better." I wanted to hug him and hold him. What a sweet little man to take such good care of his very sick mama.
So, despite the trash on the floor where the trash can was supposed to be, the egg mess all over the sink and the 5 half empty packets of hot chocolate mix strewn across the countertop, I had the blessing of being deeply cared for by a little man that knows nothing but to take care of those who need it. I am so blessed!
No comments:
Post a Comment