Ukraine Adoption

Down for the count

At 5 a.m., we heard whimpering outside our bedroom door. I jumped up and stumbled out and saw, in the glare of the hallway nightlight, little Tara crumpled on the floor, her cheeks damp from tears, her hair in her face. What's wrong? I asked, hugging her. Then I knew. She felt very warm. A fever.

Something was going around her pre-school last week, several kids missed a few days. I was only a little worried, because Tara seems to side-step colds all the time. We can all be sick in the house, and she's barely sniffling at all. But I should never have done what I did last week: I bragged to her teacher that Tara rarely gets a fever. I even knocked on wood. Some superstition that turned out to be.

So they make cold medications that work so well that they make children forget they are sick. When I was a kid, I only felt like lying in bed or on the couch all day. Tara's fever subsided quickly with Motrin, so now she is running around like any other day. But I know when it wears off, she will be down for the count, again. What's a mother to do, let her run around, or make her stay down?

It is so cold out, we are all basically stuck inside.

Tara thought it was really funny when she sneezed on her dad this morning. John is not happy. But he figures adults don't usually catch a fever from a kid, maybe a cold, though. Sure. OK, where's the Airborne??