TWIN TALES: 5 more days

Sunday, November 12, 2006

5 more days

I tried really hard to post every day this month but I just couldn't keep up. Daycare called me Friday afternoon because Dean was running a fever. Friday was Jack's first day back to daycare since Wednesday. I thought we got lucky and Dean didn't catch Jack's cold but - no such luck. I was chatting with one of the daycare dads the other day. His son is almost 5 months old and he asked me how old were the boys when I finally relaxed? I told him I still haven't completely relaxed but that I stopped excessively worrying when they turned 3. He laughed. I explained that Dean had pneumonia 3 times and was hospitalized twice. That Jack is prone to whooping cough and that the breathing treatments don't really help with that. When they were 15 months old and in and out of the doctor for cold after cold, breathing treatments 4x a day, pneumonia and whooping cough - their doctor told me that they would grow out of it. And, for the most part, they have. It's just that they don't get very many colds during the summer and consequently I forget about the dry, hacking cough that precedes every cold that Dean ever gets. I forget the worry that comes with the flushed cheeks and glazed eyes. How Jack becomes extra affectionate and Dean inconsolable. But I've learned some tricks over the years. Tylenol doesn't work on Dean but it works on Jack. Motrin doesn't work on Jack but it works on Dean. Often, I have to alternate Tylenol and Motrin on Dean because one won't cut it. Jack can rally when he doesn't feel well but Dean broadcasts his misery all over his face. So while I am heartened by the realization that they have indeed grown stronger, I can't keep the old nagging worry from cropping up every now and then.