The Bulb Syringe

I am a lousy sick person, I mope do very little that would actually make me feel better and ultimately I think I just complain.  I am relatively lucky since I rarely get sick like that.  To date my own children have remained basically normal kids who get sick only every so often and fortunately not too severely.

Sean, my middle child, recently came down with a flu, and then the cold to end all colds.  He is miserable, and when he was running a fever refused to take any medicine; he is now big enough that he can effectively stage a protest.  I don't remember many "liquid" medicines when I was a child but the few I do remember were either basically sugar, or heinous, and I didn't much like any of them.  I did get St. Josephs chew-able aspirin which was great, and I never minded taking that.  As if his flu was not enough he has a stuffed up nose.

Now I am not too sure when a child "learns" to blow their nose, but for whatever reason Sean isn't to into the nose blowing exercise.  This is not a problem 99 times out of a 100 if your nose actually runs, but when his congestion recently got so bad that he would wake up 5 or 6 times a night it was a big problem.   My wife and I got to earn the title "parent."  Which should actually mean we do mean stuff to our kids so they hate us but it is the right thing to do; which is a rather crappy job.  I went to the baby box and pulled out the bulb syringe to clear up his nose, and man I felt like a terrible person.  I finished clearing up his nose and he shrieked in protest "Why? Why?" in a tone not heard since the tragic Nancy Kerrigan attack, and proceeded to break our hearts.

When all was said and done we had nose that was significantly less stuffed up and a child sobbing on Mama's shoulder who wanted no part of Daddy...awesome.  So for two days I got to do this 3 times a night and have my toddler hate me.

A week or so later things are better, he is healthy, Drew is sick, but thank God he can blow his nose.  The nose clearing made a mark with Sean though.  I went to wipe his nose yesterday and he was fine with it but stated he didn't want his nose "cleaned."  We even caught him a few times trying to hide the bulb syringe.

On the list of parenting things you have to do that are unpleasant at best I am sure this will end up falling pretty low, but it no less made a distinct impression on my duties as a parent.  This will go down as a great metaphor for who knows how many years for me; Being a parent is fun bonding moments mixed with righteous heartbreak.