Because She Loves You So Much

Mark has a cold.  It's a Big Deal.  Just ask him.  Emma had a cold.  She was miserable but stoic.  Braeden had a cold.  He was miserable but stoic.

Mark...

And it's all my fault.  He's my baby.  What am I supposed to do besides baby him?  I have no idea. So I baby my baby.  He was far far far too sick for school.  Just ask him.  I cajoled him into a little bit of school.

He moaned and groaned.  "I can't even think," he complained, "My head hurts SO much."

My poor baby.

I hugged him and coddled him and sent him to rest.

He started playing with Legos and I heard him singing in his room.

So how sick is he?

I had a planning meeting at Alfy's, along with Heather, my fellow Wolf Cub Scout Leader. I told Mark maybe I would cancel since he was sick.  He assured me he was well enough to go.  So we went (because it would have been a pain to reschedule...we really needed to plan).  On the drive there Mark said, "You know the good thing about being sick?  Snuggles with your mom and you get lots of good sickness food and your mom keeps saying, 'how are you?' and taking care of you because she loves you so much."

I wasn't sure if Mark would feel like eating much.  I bought a cheese pizza, thinking I'd give most of it to Braeden and Emma when they got home from school.

Mark ate the entire pizza.

So how sick is he?

I went to the store and stocked up on juice and Dimetapp and ice cream.  (Remember, he's my baby?)  I asked Mark what kind of juice he wanted.  He wanted orange juice and cranberry mixed together...our kids drink that by the bucketful in Nevada at my mother's breakfast table.  He said, "Can I have apple juice too?"

I told him he could have anything he wanted.

"A Lego set?"

"No, any kind of juice you want."

"Can I have a juice bottle filled with Legos."

"No."

We don't drink much juice around here, mostly just when someone is sick.  Mark was watching me stir the orange juice.

He asked, "What's that yellow thing?"

I explained it was some of the orange juice concentrate and I needed to stir it more.

Mark was grouchy.  "Well," he said with disgust, "Maybe if the people who make juice would concentrate a little more it wouldn't take forever to stir the juice.  Forget it."

And he climbed back into the red chair and resumed playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii. 

I kept stirring the juice.

Because when you're eight and feel sick, that's what your mom does when she loves you so much.