It was Thursday morning of last week. We were coming off a sleepless night of caring for two sick kids, pukey Ella and feverish Cal. I had somehow muscled myself out of bed and managed my way to the bathroom to shower and get ready for work. Exhausted, unhappy and questioning my motherhood (go to work with two sick kids at home?), I was in no mood to interact with another human being.
Unfortunately, Ella was shadowing me throughout my routine and was chattier than ever. Most people clue in on it and leave me alone. Not Ella. She just chatted me up to her heart's content. Initially, I mustered a grunt or an "oh, yeah?" after each of her provocative statements; eventually, I decided to write some of them down. What follows is a sampling of some of the things she said that morning... that morning after she puked the night away...
Holding my watch she said, "This is your clock. You can wear it when you're done taking your shower."
Holding the plastic cup we keep in the bathroom, "I'll leave the water in here so Cal could drink it because he'll be thirsty."
Holding my towel, "This is your towel because it is bigger. I'll put it right here so you can use it when you're done taking your shower."
About the "froggy" mat we throw on our shower floor when the kids take showers, "Big kids don't get froggies, just little kids so they don't slip."
"Boys can... boys can stay in the shower so they can dry off." (Dan will dry himself off in the confines of the shower so as not to get the floor (even the bathmat) wet.)
Grabbing the lotion, "Mommy, these are for girls. I gotta put some on me. These are for girls, not for boys."
Handing me the Resolve carpet cleaner I had left out in the bathroom, I can't remember why, "Here, Mommy, you can use this for Cal's pee pees." (Awhile ago, I used Resolve to clean up Cal's "accident" on the carpet.)
She contentedly moved from one comment to the next whether I responded or not. She didn't say anything about having been sick the night before, nor did she behave as if she had been.
As for me, I operated okay on fumes at work that day. The guilt of not staying home with the kids eventually waned -- Papa (Dan's dad) relieved Dan and watched them in the morning and early afternoon, and I know the kids enjoy their time with Papa. What was left was an occasional quiet laugh as I recalled some of the things that Ella had said that morning.
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