In which I don't bother coming up with a conclusion.
March 18, 2005Today Henry woke up to find that his nose had turned into a cascading waterfall of goo. Besides the runniness and the sneeziness he seems relatively okay, but he has also been squeamish lately about strange substances on his skin, so every time he sneezes and mucus shoots out of his nose, he screams “Get it off me! GET IT OFF!” and I have to run and wipe him before he enters The Freakout Territory From Which It Is Difficult To Exit Gracefully. You’d think such a fussy child would learn to wipe his own nose, but when the tissue is used and it becomes infused with the goo, then his hands must be wiped. It's an exhausting process. A few times he just lunged forward and wiped his nose on my jeans, and I let him.
Right before his nap I thought he felt a little warm, so I whipped out the thermometer. Now, in the past Henry has found the under-arm option of temperature-taking unacceptable; strangely, he always handled the rectal option with aplomb, so that’s where we went. So today I didn’t even think about it: I lubed up the thermometer and put him over my lap. Henry was intensely curious about the goings-on; when I got out the thermometer he was all “What is THAT” and then “Oooh, temperature,” and “Because I don’t feel well” and “This will make my rash better” (lately everything is about the rash). Then I took off his diaper, which is always a thrill for him, and when I told him to lie down across my lap he was clearly anticipating Fun Times. And then there was insertion.
What I failed to take into account is, because this has been a ridiculously healthy year for all of us, I haven’t taken Henry’s temperature in a long, long time. And what an 18-month-old will tolerate is not necessarily what a two-something enjoys. So I stuck this thermometer in and Henry says, “Hey. HEY. WAIT. HEY. What’s THAT. NO. HEY,” like an adult chastising a little kid who put something where it’s not supposed to go. It was so adult that I started laughing and I took the thermometer out of my indignant son’s butt and he stood up and looked at me, still saying, “HEY” except now because I was laughing he concluded that whatever had just happened, it was hilarious. And then we had lunch. The End.
Reader Comments (37)
Poor little Henry, and his unfortunately-growing sense of self-awareness!
You are in SO much trouble!
At least Henry is learning that its an exit, not an entrance.
(I too, thought of the trolls coming out of the woodwork, though. Bastards.)
Hey. HEY!
And the cleanliness/dirty hands thing must be something about that age -- my granddaughter used to be upset that she couldn't play in the sandbox without getting her hands dirty.
On a slightly more helpful note, I'll mention that those instant-read ear thermometers have come down in price considerably in the last two years. I've seen them on sale for $15. I'm thinking it might be worth the investment.
Keep posting, I love your blog~
I now employ the "let's all just have some tylenol just in case" method. Fever, schmever. Bottoms up!
You funny big, long time.