thursday highs and lows

Last Thursday it was 70 degrees. Bella and I went for a lovely walk with Lauren and Brady. We did our regular loop, visited the ducks and even stopped for lunch. It was a beautiful morning. The first long walks after the cold of winter are like those big stretches when you wake up in the morning: refreshing and invigorating — an unfolding and uncurling of all the kinks from hibernation. Lauren took this picture of Bella when we stopped to say hello to the ducks. We all were a little high off of the sights and sounds and smells of Spring.

Later that afternoon, during quiet time, I could hear Bella in her room. It sounded like coughing. At first I didn’t think anything of it. She’s been coughing to get attention since she was a wee little thing. But something didn’t feel right. I decided to check in on her. Ugh! She had thrown up her lunch all over her bedroom, including her bed and blanket (but thankfully not on any of her friends that aren’t machine washable). It’s the first time she’s been that sick since we found out about her milk intolerance when she was an infant. She was stunned. Shocked. She didn’t understand what had just happened.

I cleaned her up. I cleaned her bed and the floor. I was thankful that I knit her blanket out of washable yarn. We settled down, read books in the living room and she took a nap. The rest of the evening wasn’t so good, but she did sleep through the night once we got her to bed. Her spirits were up on Friday even though she didn’t eat much and by Saturday she was back to her old self.

It’s hard explaining being sick to a two-year old. The idea of food coming back up? of running to the bathroom when your tummy rumbles? of only taking little sips of water and avoiding solid food when your tummy is empty? All of those were completely confusing to her. It’s hard to watch your little one feel so low. I’m so grateful that she bounced back so quickly!