Our Snot-Nosed Kid

Abbie currently has a cold, or possibly allergies. The principles at Abbie Update have had some disagreement on this. Either way, the outcome is a lot of snot. A lot of crying comes along, too, as the grumpiness and mucus rivers overwhelm me and I roll up into an ironic fetal position and bawl. Abbie cries a lot, too. Her mood varies, but when she’s at her most cantankerous, like this morning, she has a very short list of activities that won’t end with her crying. That list does not include playing alone on the floor, which is unfortunate because I use that time for chores around the house like vacuuming the floor, cleaning the bathroom, and reading the newspaper. The result is we live in a slightly messier home, and I develop a headache while trying to decipher the subtle humor in that day’s Garfield.

The hard part is there’s little I can do for her besides provide comfort when the trauma that is sinus pain sends her screaming. I could give her a decongestant like Benadryl, but it doesn’t do much to decongest her at this age. It will help her sleep, but fortunately she’s still sleeping well so no point in doing that. Anyway, I’m not the type of parent who would drug his screaming child just to put her to sleep unless a show I really want to watch is on television, like a pivotal sporting match. So our sick days involve a lot of reading, a lot of carrying the baby around the house and outside if possible, and a lot of snot wiping. We could minimize the snot wiping if she would just let me suction her nose, but that throws her into a fit more violent than a Red Sox fan at a Gary Sheffield look-alike convention. With little to do to help her, we just deal with and hope that the next day, or even hour, is better than the last one. Sometimes it couldn't be worse.