Vomit Aversion

Yesterday I was babysitting L&A, and their mom had informed me that L had a fever all day, but seemed fine and didn't have any other symptoms. I got to their house and he seemed happy and talkative. After their mom left, he dressed himself in his boots, hat, winter jacket, and mittens and told me he wanted to go outside. I bundled up A, and took them out. A is just starting to walk consistently and was not a fan of the snow. When I put him in it, he stood in one place and just said "help" over and over again until I took him out. L, on the other hand, loved it. He rode his tricycle through it, played on his little playground, and when I told him it was time to go inside, he protested.

After snow-time, the kids both slept for about 2 hours. When they woke up and I went upstairs to get them, I got the baby first, and went into L's room. He still looked extremely tired, and his cheeks were very flushed, but I asked him if he wanted to go get a snack downstairs and he said yes. When he walked into the hallway, he started holding his throat and whimpering. Then he started gagging and making those gross croaky, gurgly noises you make when you're about to throw up. So I picked him up and ran into the bathroom and held him over the bathtub. I commended myself on being so brave, because I really truly hate vomit. I don't like the noises, I don't like the feeling, and I definitely don't like the smell. My aversion to vomit is so bad that if someone tells me they've been sick and they're on the phone with me in a completely different part of the country, I start to feel nauseous. It might be considered a disorder.

So, L continued to make the gross noises and was crying, so I was pretty positive he was going to throw up, but he never did. I set him down on the floor, with the upper half of his body still crouched over the bathtub. Only when I put him down did I realize that I was shaking, and that my body temperature had risen considerably. I was having an actual bodily reaction to the POSSIBILITY of this three year old throwing up. So, I may have commended myself a little too early--I truly am a wimp when it comes to vomit. How will I ever have children?

Life With Six Kids Ages Three and Under

Now that I've introduced the kids I spend 40-50 hours a week with, I think I will start writing about what it's like to hang out with them all day. I'm going to refer to them by the initial of their first name, so that their names aren't repeated over and over on the internet, in association with my name. For privacy's sake--as much as you can have when posting publicly on the internet.

I've decided that three year olds, or maybe three year old boys specifically, are just weird. Weird doesn't necessarily have to mean bad, but they are strange little beings. They are entering a stage in their life when they are no longer babies, especially if they have younger siblings. They are encouraged to do things for themselves more, much to their dismay. They are taught and encouraged to use the toilet instead of the more convenient (and much preferred, in my experience) method of just going in their pants. They are told that crying and screaming doesn't get them what they want, although only a year or so back, it did. In sum, being three (or 2 and a half) is not as easy as you might think.

Three year olds are also trying to communicate more and are always learning new words and phrases that they attempt to incorporate into daily conversation. This can be pretty funny at times. I was in K's room with him the other day and there was a photo on his bookshelf of a man who looked like his uncle. I asked him if that was his uncle in the picture and confirmed that it was. I said, "What is your uncle's name?" to which he replied, "I don't rightly know!" His response cracked me up, and made me wonder where he had picked up the speech of a middle aged British man.