Sick Kids

My kids are currently all ill with the stomach flu. Thus, our house is an absolute germ vacation right now. There is vomit in the hallways and on the floors. There are random emergency buckets scattered amongst the toys. It's wretched.

Here's what I don't understand. First, at about 9pm last night - my son, James, came down to tell me that my son, Aidan, had just vomitted in his sleep. So, I go up and Aidan is still sleeping amongst his vomit laden sheets. Then, I rouse him enough to clean off his face and get his clothes off. I start working on the sheets and the like - and my son, James, who has spent the better part of the day whimpering in the middle of his vomitting says "this is the worst thing that I have ever smelled." Now I am no expert but all vomit smells terrible - and Aidan's was not unusually putrid. But, if you had just spent the day feeling wretched - don't you think a little empathy would be possible? Not James. He kept asking analytical vomit questions - such as "what's that?" - when he looked at the giant mess or - "was that an unusually chunky vomit, dad?".

Second, at about 10:30 after cleaning up the Aidan' vomits (#1 and #2 and #3), I decided it was safe to go to bed. So, I went in to give my oldest daughter, Martha, a kiss. I literally bend over to give her a kiss - I am inches from her ear (she is on her side) and I realize that there is something that appears to be oatmeal - lying next to her mouth. This is not my first rodeo - so I immediately recoil and examine from a far. Yes, vomit and it has run down her pillow and is basically laying like a mat beneath her. Question two - how can someone sleep in their own vomit? This strikes me as impossible - but two separate instances in a span of 2 hours suggest that vomitting may actually help my kids sleep more soundly. Absurd. Anyway, I had to wake her up to clean her up. And she asked me - "what's that?" I said vomit, and she said - "who vomitted?" I said, "well, Martha you did." She said, "Oh, that's gross. What's vomit?" I did my best to explain to her the origins of vomit in the nether regions of her belly. She obviously did not get it - but she's only 3 so I except her inability to grasp the inner workings of her digestive system.

Anyway, that brings us to more of an analysis of vomit and illness. Younger kids tend to simply play through their vomitting. Martha essentially went right back to sleep as did Aidan. Cheryl and James, on the other hand, did not. Both spent about 24 hours in agony. Why is that? How is it possible that a child that would weep for 15 minutes if she stubbed her toe or scratched her arm - could simply roll over with vomit still in her hair, missing her shirt (because it had to be removed - and I was not fast enough to put on a new one) and go right to sleep. Its just amazing. I feel like I have to sit and clear my mind and shower after my kids' incidents - and they roll right back into bed and go right to sleep - until the next gastro-intestinal explosion. Amazing.