Procrastinet

Barfblogging of Epic Proportions

filed under: Dadditudes

Two little words that should strike morbid fear into parents' hearts:

Stomach bug.

From 10:45 pm last night through 11:45 am this morning, Max barfed at least every 20 minutes, sometimes more frequently. He barfed out all his food, he barfed out whatever was left, then he barfed out nothing for a while, just looking at us in horrified bewilderment while his poor little body locked up. We all camped downstairs, with towels and sheets covering the sofa and floor, and grabbed ten minute naps between outbreaks of Barfapalooza.

This morning Lisa and I took turns slinking upstairs for naps, while the parent-on-duty ran Max through an entertaining cycle where, in the name of at least nominal hydration, we'd feed him three or four sips of water, wait five minutes, give him three or four more, and then watch in fascination as he showered the room with it all. Once he hit the cat from about four feet away, which was pretty neat.

Here's one thing I don't understand: why would nature have bred into children the undeniable instinct to barf directly onto their parents? What possible biological/Darwinian advantage could that hold? Max would be slumbering restlessly within his towel fortress, wake up with a cry and immediately make straight for whichever parent was nearest, mouth agape. I kept a towel near at hand, and tried to lay it in front of him while simultaneously hiding behind it, but this just hurt his feelings. He'd reach out and yank the towel away just so we could share the special bond of having him hose me down directly.

The worst seems to be past, and he's eating crackers ("kers!") and soup ("tzoup!") - though we're not letting him have any "tsees!" (cheese) despite his resultant disgruntlement.

As Lisa wrote to her mommy friends, it was really heartbreaking to watch our boisterous little guy lying around shivering, so weak he could barely lift his head. And calling out for "waah..." (water) with increasing desperation as we tried to stave off the inevitable shower by telling him "no" for a little while.

Curse you, stomach bug.

UPDATE: Lisa would like me to point out that, while Max clearly enjoys barfing on either parent, he has a special place in his heart for Mommy, which he demonstrated at one point by twisting himself out of my arms and lunging at her with the express purpose of giving her back the water she had just given him.

Posted by rjt at February 22, 2005 11:28 PM