I was out picking up one of our kids from an event on Saturday night when I got the call that Aleeya wasn't feeling well. Now, this is a girl that is really healthy and has only dealt with a few allergies or a cold or two since we've had her over a year, so I wasn't sure what this meant. I headed home within the hour and found her with a decent temperature and chills. I felt awful being out while she was feeling so yucky!
I have taken care of my other three kids and their many sickness over the years, but this was my first time getting to take care of Aleeya and it was pretty great to do it! She was funny in some of the things she did - like getting her footed pajamas on and getting under lots of blankets because she had the chills only to have me come in and say to get in a light t-shirt and only have her sheet over her because her temperature would only get hotter with all of that on her! I was able to touch her sweet face quite a bit feeling for her temperature, and came in throughout the night a couple of times to see if the fever came back after giving her Advil.
We stayed home together the next day (Sunday) and she rested and read most of the day. She was kinda quiet and sweet, and I just kept checking on her and giving her water to drink. I could tell that this was a good thing . . . my being able to "mother" her during her sickness. She still had a fever that night, so we kept her home from school the next day. But the fever left over night, and she was totally fine on Monday. So, we spent part of the day doing some errands and just hanging out.
Later, I saw a note in her journal that said that it was really nice to have a Mom to take care of her. While I can't say that I'm glad she got sick, I realized that this sickness was actually somewhat of a good thing!
We experienced a similar thing with Isaiah. He had to be hospitalized and the experience of us staying with him the whole time, me sleeping in the bed with him, and just loving him through it all really impacted and was a milestone in his attachment to us. It is in those times that they may not have ever been loved really well that they see what it means to be a family. Not good to be sick, but really good to show them your love in that process.
ReplyDeleteLaura