With the frequency of the boys falling sick (as they attend day care) some friends are curious as to whether R and I fall sick every time when the boys are sick. The answer to that is no. We are blessed in that way, in that we only very occasionally catch the virus from the boys (often in winter). Thank God for that. I have to admit though, it is very hard to protect ourselves from falling sick especially when we have been coughed on, sneezed on, puked on and even soiled on. We try our best to *disinfect* ourselves by washing hands frequently. I believe God knows we cannot afford to be sick!
If you are reading this and are thinking of having a child of your own one day, please do not be scared by what I have just said. Taking care of sick kids is never easy, but the sickness is only temporary. The long term happiness and joy that they bring make it all worth it. It is all part of the fun of being a parent! Well, do I sound like I am a mother of 10 children? :) Well, no, I am not. Fact is, I am still on a very steep learning curve when it comes to parenting. I am merely repeating what a wise Christian lady from church shared with me when I told her how hard things can get when the boys are sick. Her words are really encouraging. They have picked me up.
Just this morning, when I was busy changing sheets for the boys and busy dusting their room, Mr A came to me pushing his toy truck and said”mum, I am going to work, bye!”. I turned around, looked at him and said “OK, bye!”. Before running off, he said “I earn money for papa, mama and gor gor (big brother)”. To which I replied “OK, make sure you have some money for yourself too!”. With that the happy boy ran off. How cute is that? Got to love what comes out of that little boy’s mouth. 🙂 He is feeling a lot better this morning as the fever has gone. He is back to his usual self again. I’m glad.
Still talking about Mr A, the husband thought I should share about the experience I had at the clinic yesterday. Well, I made an appointment for Athan to see a GP to check his lungs etc yesterday morning. The father and Calvin decided to tag along too. After a long wait, the doctor came and called Athan’s name. Only the boy and me went in. What a mistake. Once inside the doctor’s room, Athan became very very serious and quiet. When the doctor took out his stethoscope wanting to listen to his lungs, the boy began to scream at the top of his lungs no! no! no! no! no! ….. non stop. For no apparent reason! He was struggling violently on my lap trying to escape. Perhaps he thought the doctor was going to hurt him? The kind doctor then gave him a lollipop which immediately stopped the screaming for a moment, and when the stethoscope re-appeared, the no! no! no! screaming started again. This time, he even threw the lollipop away! What fear did he have? The doctor? Or the stethoscope? I really wondered. We tried to reassure him there won’t be any pain, but only in vain. At that moment, I wished R would suddenly appear in the room and help me restrain the boy. But he did not. And so, I decided that I have to pin the boy down on my lap and let the GP do his job. With patience and great skills, the doctor managed to check his throat, listen to his lungs, both front and back as well as check his ear, both left and right. It was hard work. I was sure everyone outside the room could hear the screaming. 🙂 When the check ended, the boy stopped screaming, instantly. And, he even picked up the lollipop and asked me to unwrap it. *sigh* By the way, the check showed no sign of infection. Thank God.
When we came out of the doctor’s room, R asked if the screaming was from Athan. I related the whole deafening experience to him and he just laughed! He just could not get over Athan screaming “no!” to the stethoscope. He found Athan’s reaction funny! I told him as well that I wished he was there to help restrain Athan, to which he replied that he knew I could handle the boy. Oh, what confidence he had in me! Well, fact is the husband has always have confidence in me. 🙂