Sick Day

Sunday morning started with Jack declaring he felt "icky." "Icky how?" I ask, rubbing sleep from my eyes and hoping Joel already had the coffee going (poor man had to work all weekend so he was already up). "Icky in my tummy." Now understand, Alex declares his tummy hurts, generally speaking, at least once a day. Basically, if Alex is bored with the current activity or doesn't want to eat what is in front of him, he tells any one who will listen that his stomach hurts. This got him sent home from school a few times, but now his teacher has caught on to the method of his madness.

Jack, on the other hand, has yet to fake a single illness (or if he did, he did it so well I still don't know). Knowing a stomach bug was making it's way around, I told him to go the bathroom and downstairs I came. Nothing came up/out, but he looked crummy and so I got him settled on the love-seat with a cozy blanket and a water bottle and our lobster pot in case he couldn't make it. . .

Our plans for the day now significantly altered, it was a day filled with random chores and amusing anecdotes. Alex, who was not sick - AT ALL - enjoyed filling his new baseball card binder and singing quietly to himself "Pedroia - Pedroyyyyyaaaa the Destroyaaaaaaaah." Jack, did not enjoy moaning quietly from the love-seat and refusing all offers of food.

"How about some toast?" I offered. "No thank you" replied Jack. "I want toast! I'll eat toast! Can I have jam on my toast? No peanut butter, just jam. I'll eat it Mama, I'll eat it." enthused Alex.

Jack felt so crummy he didn't want to play cards or any other game and so it was hard to keep him entertained as he could never decide what he wanted to watch or have read to him. Alex would chime in with his preferences, and thus the only thing Jack did know was that he did NOT want whatever Alex requested.

Things were getting a bit frustrating for the one adult in the house, so happily our friend was still willing to take Alex for a couple of hours and he got to see a basketball game at the nearby high school and thus was out of Jack's hair.

Jack decided a bath would help and so he assumed almost the identical curled up position from the love-seat, only now in the tub. The one difference, besides the obvious water and nudity, was in the bathtub he also had his sailboat. The bath did not help, but it did energize him enough that I got him to eat an egg. This made me feel better, but not Jack. As a mother, I have to say that nothing SUCKS more than watching your child feel crummy and there is NOTHING you can do to make it go away.

Alex returned home and was amazed that Jack was still curled up on the love-seat. "Wow, are you STILL sick?" he asked? "Yeah . . ." Jack whimpered. He may not get sick often, but when he does, he is extremely pitiful. "Well when will you be better? I want to play!" "I don't know Alex, someday I'll be better . . ."

We ended up all enjoying a marathon of "Ace of Cakes" shows on the Food Network. The most excited Jack got all day was when they made a cake of a Clone Trooper helmet. Mary Alice started out saying it was a "Storm Trooper" helmet, but as soon as they showed a picture of the example they were going by, Jack shouted out "that's a CLONE trooper, not a STORM trooper!" The force is strong in Jack.

This morning Jack was back to his Love-Bug self; I love the healing power within that boy! We still kept him home and I was with him until I took him to hang out with my Mom so I could go to work. Alex sweetly patted his big brother's head before leaving with Joel and called out that he loved Jack. Lovely moment - aren't they always the nicest when they are leaving each other?

Jack made up for the lost play time and had his Star Wars guys battling the Play-Mobil Napoleonic soldiers (who Jack says are Revolutionary War soldiers - specifically one of them is George Washington). He kept asking me to come in and see the carnage around my vintage Fisher-Price castle (the battle site). It was impressive how victorious the soldiers were against the multitudes of Star Wars guys. Jack said it was because George Washington shot down the jet pack.

So now we just keep our fingers crossed that the illness is out of our house - or that if any of us get it, we get the 12 hour version Jack got!