Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure how you take your toddler to a college football game and not immediately come down with the flu since the night after we got home from College Station, my whole family came down with just that.
Before we delve into the fun that was our high-fevered, miserable puking Labor Day, I'll answer the questions from the last post about taking Kyle to the game:
1. Did Kyle sit through the whole game? Ha! Haaaaaa! No, he didn't. The game started at 6 pm, and we didn't leave the house we were staying at until 6 pm. Parking was a breeze, thankfully, and there was stroller parking at the stadium, also a breeze, doubly thankfully, so we got to our seats just as the second quarter was starting. We left right as the third quarter ended. So, we saw enough to feel our money was well spent but didn't stay too long that the people around us were all "TAKE YOUR SCREAMING TODDLER ELSEWHERE, WOULD YOU?"
We also did two things that were, uh, desperate times-ish. We 1) gave him his pacifier, which he only has at bedtime now and 2) busted out our cell phones and let him watch videos and Cars clips and whatever he wanted short of calling China.
He did great while at the game, though. He's not noise-sensitive (which he did not get from me, the child who could not stand fireworks until I was very nearly a high-schooler) and he enjoyed all the clapping and cheering, thank you Aggies for all those touchdowns.
Ultimately, though, we got lucky. Story of my life.
2. Where are his sandals from? Kohl's. Mike picked them out and they've been a great investment for us. (Of course, I can't find a link.)
Now, the flu.
Apparently my little man is an overachiever as he's the first flu case of the season at our doctor's office. I'd be so proud if I wasn't so ... exhausted and ... tired ... and hanging on by a flu-frayed thread.
Why couldn't he be the youngest child to stumble upon a million dollars?
If you've been reading long enough, you know Kyle has been a pretty sick kid. I'm genuinely disappointed in myself for not creating a category on this site along the lines of The Boy of a Thousand Co-Pays because it'd be nice to go back and re-read all the MY SON IS SICK!!!! posts in one sitting just to, you know, acknowledge my own badass-ness.
I thought we'd turned a corner with his Horrible Immune System from Hell but, well, I guess not.
When I think back on last year's holiday season -- my favorite season of the year, I should add -- all I can remember is the flu, the stomach virus, the bronchitis, the multiple mystery viruses, the pink eye. There were more canceled plans than kept ones. It was hard and depressing and I really didn't want to go through another year like that.
When I am able to muster up perspective, I know we're still lucky: we have insurance to cover the crazy co-pays, great jobs that (generally) understand when we have to work remotely or not work at all, and family and friends who pitch in way more than the average set of family and friends should have to.
I'm not always able to muster perspective, though.
I had to go to the pharmacy tonight, of course, because just when you save $60 for an outfit to wear to your high school reunion, you'll have to drop it instead on flu and nausea medicine for your toddler, and as I was paying for the medicine, the pharmacist was going over the instructions and talking about flu season and I stopped him and said, "this is the shit they don't talk about at baby showers." He got noticeably uncomfortable, and I stammered an apology, thinking he'd find me charming but, oh, so very few people find me that.
I can be totally awkward.
But, it's true, this is the stuff "they" don't prepare you for, and while that outfit would have been pretty and the sleep last night I didn't get would have been great and a barbecue or parade or great Old Navy sale would have been a better way to spend our Labor Day, this is just what we have to roll with.
The kid gets sick, we do what we must to make him better, no questions asked.
But if we do ever have another child, you can bet your ass I'm going to forgo all those LET HIM HAVE RED HAIR prayers and skip right to LET HIS IMMUNE SYSTEM BE STRONG AS STEEL.