Bunnyfufu’s Wonder Planet Guide to Making the Pirates Feel Better
April 15, 2013
Posted By: Shaunescy
Just for today, I am borrowing Paul Rudnick's outrageously silly imagined mommy-blogland handle. (Thanks Bozemama, for turning me on to his piece.) It was a much needed laugh while my little world was oh-so-crummy.
Here, on Wonder Planet (Bozeman edition) all weekend long, the house has been abuzz with the psuedo-psychedelic - oh-crap-are-we-all-going-to-get-the-flu haze. accompanied with a touch of gravel-stone rock stuck in my throat because although, I love my children, I really don't tolerate handling vomit well.
The littlest heart-pirate crawled into my bed at about 4 am, with the teeny-tiniest voice murmuring, "mom. . . ta..aa..maa..ppahm."
With puffy, barely slit open eyes I try to catch up with being awake and understand what my little pea-pod is saying. "Child, huh? What are you saying to me?" I am worried that this is the way-early Saturday morning desire for cartoons. Noooooo! Not yet, my tired limbs plead.
Even softer, "mom. . . ta..aa..maa..ppahm."
I take a deep breath and hold her hand and groggily ask again, "What is it? What do you need, hon? I just can't hear you."
"mom. . . ta..aa..maa..ppahm." "Oh, you want me to take out your ponytail. Ok." I gently unweave the hair-tie, silently kicking myself for listening to her earlier when she asked me to leave her ponytail in for the night. It hurts your head to sleep with a ponytail in. Of course she's up. My fault.
She is relieved. Relaxed. And then it comes, "gack. . Blaaaaaaaaaaaap."
Now, I am wide awake and in full-on ninja mommy mode. My bed escaped the ick. Me, not so much. And you know what comes next. Child into the bath. Discovering that her bed has not fared as well as your own. Strip that. Cover the couch with sheets and blankets and towels. Dry off the quaky one. Put her in soft clothes, deposit her on the couch cocoon. Begin full on laundering and decontamination while she watches an extra early cartoon fest.
This cycle continues for about 6-8 hours. Until I wised up and didn't give her big-old-glugs of water or juice (huge Duh! moment there), just ice chips until I was truly and surely, positive it was over.
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So what is good here? Well, it really was only a 24 hour bug. Plus my ninja decontamination plan worked and the rest of us are fine. Glad that it was on a weekend so we didn't have to play the game of do-we-send-the-other-pirate-to-school-today?
And you have my apologies if my little narrative was too much information, but there is a tummy-bug going around and it seemed like a good time to talk some of this out.
As a family, we've decided that the kids must be 24 hours fever or vomit-free before we unleash them on the rest of the community. That means, no school, no running to the store with them, etc. Can't do much if they have something and are contagious before they show any signs or symptoms. But it seems downright rude to knowingly add to the spread of the ick.
How about you? What do you do? Do you have a different rule of thumb?
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Also, I asked Grandma Shirley to inquire at her bridge club about mommy-remedies.
What is best for a sore throat?
Jello was my mom's go-to for any sickness food. She'd prepare it like she was going to let it set-up in the fridge but, she'd give us a cup of it in liquid form. As a kid, I thought she was magic. I give my kids Slippery Elm tea with a bunch of honey or Slippery Elm lozenges. It just coats your throat.
The common cold?
~ Tea, honey and lemon is good for sore throat and for cold. Main thing for cold is lots of liquid (except NO milk products) and let it drip. If you stop the drips with anything, it prevents the virus from leaving the body.
~ Chicken noodle soup, of course! We do a simpler variation, chicken or veggie broth with alphabet noodles.
Or the dreaded rumble-tummy?
~ Only ice chips until the waves of nausea have passed and then clear liquids for the next 24 hours at least. ~ The chicken or veggie broth works well here and once that goes well, you can add in the little alphabets.
~Ginger ale and ginger snaps or ginger chews. Later, dry toast and tea. Pedia-lyte or this homemade version of an electrolyte drink:
Mix together a quart of water, 2 tablespoons of honey or maple syrup, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for a bit of flavor. It gets a bit fizzy because the acidity of the lemon reacts with the baking soda. You can also make it with orange juice.
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Do you have other suggestions? Ideas? Please share in the comments section below. We all have 6 or 7 weeks until school gets out. You may very well find yourself in my very recent set of slippers! Hope this is helpful.
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All my best, Bunnyfufu
