Tales from the house of germs

This week was one of those weeks...

...Eli had some sort of nasty bug, which luckily came and went quickly.

And just when I was feeling relieved 

that he was better so quickly,

Adam came down with the nasty bug.

Whilst taking care of Adam, I got it too, 

but thankfully to a lesser degree...and while I was nursing myself and Adam back to health,

while trying to keep Eli from getting something new, 

Ethan came down with strep throat.

I was ready to throw in the towel.

I really was.

And then Ethan came along and made me laugh.  

And laugh.  (And blush and giggle.)

First, while I was curled up in bed, 

he came in very serious 

and stood by my bedside. 

He began, "I know you told me babies grow from a seed.  

But HOW does the seed get there in the first place?"  

uh.

"Well," I said, "It just grows in there.  Into a baby."

Ethan: "I know all about that!  But how does it even get to a place to start to grow!?  How does a mommy and a daddy plant it!?"

oh boy...

"Um.  Uh.  Well.  You see...um."  

Now, I'm perfectly content sharing the real story, 

but am guessing that all of the parents

of Ethan's little first grade friends

would NOT be so content for me to share the real story.

To be honest, I might be better off sharing the real story

because I doubt Ethan would even believe it.

So, I continued with my vague version of the explanation

which was that a mommy and a daddy plant the seed

a special way when they get married. 

I know.  It was a bad version of the story.

Really bad.

But I was sick.

And couldn't come up with anything more clever.

Ethan looked at me like I was a moron.

"You know, Mommy, some people don't even have babies

when they get married," contempt filling his voice.

I'm pretty sure he also mumbled something about me not knowing what I was talking about while he stomped out of the room.

*****

Just when I think that he is all grown up,

I wander into the playroom

and catch site of something under the couch

that doesn't belong.

When I investigate,

I find the object in question

is a syringe half-full

of Ethan's antibiotic for his strep.

When I find him, I ask why on earth

his medicine was under the couch. 

His answer was simple: 

"I didn't like the way it tasted."

Me: "So you hid it under the couch?!"

Ethan: "That's right."

*****

Just now, as I was getting ready to post this,

Ethan came running into the kitchen

demanding to know what an "ascot" is.

I told him and then he looked at me like I was crazy.

And then I realized he said "mascot".

That makes way more sense.