Baby's first cold

Poor Luke. Poor Me and Poor Pete. I knew Luke would get sick. Rationally I knew that. And I knew that when one of us in the house got sick it would be very likely that all of us would get sick. But after over 8 months and Luke had never been sick (other than the ear infection from hell) I decided our baby had the best immune system ever. Then the snot nose happened. I admit I’ve always looked down on those kids who always have that crusty ring of dried snot around their nose. I wasn’t sure who I blamed more for those snot nosed kids – was it the child’s fault for producing such extreme amounts of snot and not wiping it away? Was it the parent’s fault for not wiping the nose often enough or for allowing their child to even get sick in the first place? How I wish I could have had some perspective back then. Yes, I am an adult and I know how to blow my own nose and poor Luke is an 8 ½ month old (heh who would have thought I would go from measuring his age from weeks to half months?) who has no concept of blowing his nose. Are either of us to blame? Of course not. And I am the proud parent of a snot nosed kid. He is very creative in his snot distribution. He sneezes, it oozes, he sprays. He has also perfected the art of snot bubbles. They are those perfect little bubbles of snot that unexpectedly appear out of his nose and then disappear just as quickly as soon as you find something to wipe his nose with. Even when the snot is wiped away somehow that snotty film remains behind underneath his nose. We also found that snot film on his cheek, forehead and a number of other places I didn’t expect. And you can use the softest tissues in all of creation and he acts like you are wiping his nose with a porcupine foot. He screams when you are wiping his nose. He cries because he’s congested and he whines because he doesn’t feel well. Poor baby. My heart breaks when I hear him coughing and then he cries because it must have hurt him to cough. He used to giggle when I used the booger sucker on his nose. Now when I pull that turkey baster to clear up his baby sinuses he screams and wrestles. I don’t know where this baby gets his crazy strength from. It takes me and Pete holding him down to try to get some of those boogers out. Yes, two grown adults weighing in at a combined weight in excess of 300 pounds struggle to subdue a less than 20 pound infant.

The good news is that Luke is feeling better. And Pete is feeling better. The bad news is I am still sick. And miserable. And whiney.