“The more he make you cry” (Avenue Q)
Friday, October 9th, 2009Thursday evening started out pretty normally. Daddy picked Evan and Sophie up from Lola and Lolo’s house and got home in time for Daddy to make some dinner. Just before dinner was ready I noticed that Evan was holding his hands on his lower stomach. I asked right away if he wanted to sit on the potty. Evan said “no” so I left him alone. In the next few minutes i heard some “unusual” noises coming from Evan’s diaper. A few minutes later it was obvious that Evan had experienced a rather unpleasant bowel movement. I picked Evan up and changed his diaper and noticed at the same time that he was a little “off”. I asked him if his tummy hurt and he said yes. Sophie was an angel the whole time, sitting at the table , drinking her milk and waiting for dinner. I got dinner on the table, Sophie ate, and Evan didn’t touch a thing. By this time I knew for sure that something in Evan’s tummy was not quite right. Sophie finished and Evan was drifting away, quiet and not himself at all. I got them both on the couch and Evan curled up on the pillows and put his head down not even caring what i turned on the TV to. At this time I could tell that Evan had quite a fever, and got the tylanol. Evan was happy for a moment that he got “cherry drops”, but quickly just laid back down and was happy to have his back rubbed. Daddy JP got home and it was close to 7. The fever started to go down, so we took them both downstairs get ready for bed. Evan was quiet, and unusually happy to just lay in bed next to Daddy. Sophie played around as usual, and soon we gave the “1 minute till bedtime” warning. Two things happened right at that moment. Sophie (who had been a little gassy) pooped in her diaper. Evan sat up in bed. Now, this is the last time i will make this mistake, but i thought to myself “hmmm., maybe Evan is feeling a little better and this is his effort to avoid bedtime.” I was sitting on the bed next to Evan, and two seconds later, Evan vommited all over everything in sight! (ok.. in hindsight I should have known exactly what was happening). I made a noise of surprise and disgust that I wish I hadn’t, and both Evan and Sophie started to cry. Daddy’s worked together to try to comfort both babies, and strip the bed of all bedding, stuffed animals, and clothing as quickly as possible. I held Evan in the rocking chair until he calmed down, and then took him upstairs and layed him on the bed while i changed my soiled clothes. All was good and calm upstairs, but Sophie was still crying downstairs. (already with a new diaper.) Evan and i started downstairs, when Evan said in the sweetest voice, “Daddy, why Sophie crying?” I said, “Sophie is crying because she doesn’t know where you are and she wants to make sure you feel ok”. Ten minutes later, both kids were fast asleep in their beds, and slept soundly through the night.
Friday morning was pretty normal. 7:00 AM came and Evan started calling for a ‘daddy’. I walked into the room, and Evan said, “daddy, i like apple juice”. This is very unusual for Evan, who normally will run upstairs for breakfast. I asked Evan if he wanted to go upstairs to get apple juice, and he said, “no..me stay here”. Three minutes later i was back with apple juice, and Evan was drinking hungrily. Sophie started to stir in her bed, and began to babble. At this point Evan, still curled in my lap, said “Daddy, Sophie like apple juice too”.
It’s hard to put in words the warmth that i felt at that moment. What kind of little boy, who does not feel well, still thinks about what his little sister needs because she can’t say it herself? Evan is going to make one heck of a good big brother!
