Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Vomit and Cupcakes

Here's a song for you Barbra Streisand: "Vomit, pressed between the sensors in my nose, all that multi-colored vomit, on the rug, couch, and my clothes. . . ."

Last week was quite the week. Shaun characterized it as the most trying time of our married life. I don't know if I would go that far, but the stench of vomit can overpower all reason. Sophie came down with the stomach flu late one night--it's funny how vomit appears like the destroying angel in the night, when the kids are asleep and too incoherent to do anything but just spew where they lay. 24 hours and several loads of wash later, Sophie recovered and Dooby started throwing up every 1/2 hour for about 8 hours--on the shag rug, in his bed, etc. After cleaning it up the first 2 times, Shaun joked "that's it, I'm out!" (by the way, his shirt appropriately says "I'd rather be waterboarding.")



Little did Shaun know he would be curled up on the end of Dooby's little bed all night so that at any hint of movement he could force Dooby's head down into a pan. Anything to do some damage control. Dooby had it pretty rough, and I couldn't help because I was unfortunate enough to develop sympathy for his plight first-hand. Talk about memories pressed between the pages of my mind-- kneeling before the porcelain throne brought back all those "happy" memories of my 3 pregnancies. The good news is that sweet Sadie and Shaun (surprisingly enough, considering he was the clean-up crew) were spared this nasty bug. The bad news is Dooby kept throwing up off and on for a whole week. We went through a big Costco-sized container of bleach. We finally took him to the Dr, where he got some powder to help his stomach digest food, and he's been great ever since.

This leads into my next topic: Cupcakes. Dooby for a whole week lived on a diet of toast and crackers, something that is extremely difficult for a little boy who loves his food. He threw fits trying to get some mac and cheese, but we would not budge. After keeping down his food for the entire weekend, I decided to let up on the food ban and make some cupcakes for family night. Dooby was in heaven! The next morning, I awoke to Dooby's sweet voice saying "Mommy, I love u0000." "I love you too Dooby!" Then I opened my eyes and saw the pink frosting smeared all over his angelic face. He knew he was in trouble, and was trying to soften the blow. After further investigation, we found the stool in kitchen, lid off the cupcake tupperware, crumbs and a cupcake wrapper on the couch, and pink frosting smeared all over the window. Apparently Dooby had decided to have a morning snack while he welcomed the day, eating his cupcake in peace and quiet on the back of the couch while he watched the sun rise over the valley of Taipei. No wonder it was so quiet! No wonder we didn't have him trying to pull us out of bed at 6 a.m.! The saga continues. This morning I was feeding Sadie at 5 a.m. I hear Dooby's door open, and here he comes trudging to the kitchen with stool in hand. He didn't know I was up, and I quietly watched as he placed the stool next to the counter and deftly opened the tupperware of cupcakes. Just as he had his hot little hands on the treasure, I startled him "Dooby! What are you doing??" "I'm doing nothing Mom." I have tried to explain that we don't eat cake for breakfast, and all morning he has continued to ask me for a cupcake. I explain that he can have one after lunch, and so each time he eats (the kid has the appetite of a sumo wrestler--it's 8:30 and he's had a banana, ham and eggs, cereal, and toast) he asks for the cupcake. He is not going to let up. It's a battle of wills.



Sadie is almost 2 months old now! We love her more every day. She smiles and coos, and is starting to sleep for longer stretches at night. As her face gets rounder, we are starting to see signs of both Sophie and Dooby in her features. I still think she looks like a Shaun-baby.

Addendum: After finishing this post, I went to see what Dooby was up to. He had finally procured his beloved cupcake while his mother was distracted at the computer. Dooby has the last laugh.
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2 comments:

GustoBones said...

So sorry that your kids have been sick. It sounds like Dooby got the worst of it. My little boys got something really bad last Summer. The bug that would not die. It came out both ends for 2 weeks, so I can so relate to what you are talking about. I am glad to hear that everyone is back to health and that you son even feels good enough to swipe cupcakes in the wee hours of the morning! Sadie is adorable!

L & M Kunz Family said...

Oh, I can totally relate! I remember thinking if there was some way I could pay someone to clean up vomit, I would! It makes it even harder considering you have a new baby in the house. I'm glad everyone is feeling better.