Mount Snot

Lesson #1 from daycare – kids get sick. We had about 1 successful no-tears day at daycare before the runny nose and intermittent fevers started. The rule at daycare is that runny noses are OK but fevers are not. So Rob and I find ourselves frantically checking his temperature three or four times a day and coming up with nightly contingency plans for who or how we will stay home with him should the fever spike...

So far this is the tally : 1 day off, 1 early pick up, 1 trip to the ER, 1 dose of steroids, 3 sleep ins and 21 anxious and fitful sleeps for mom and dad. Thank goodness for grandparents. My mom seems to have this incredible ability perform a last minute warp to her busy schedule that allows her to come up and babysit on a whim. I think it’s a grandparent thing.

This morning when I went in to get him I did my usual shot out to whoever the celestial being of children’s health is, and apprehensively went in his room. He was smiling up at me as two torrential downpours of green snotty framed his grin.

Seriously –I have NEVER in my LIFE been witness to such an impressive display of snot. It was like Mount Vesuvius erupting green molten sputum from the depths of his brain. And whenever he breathed, laughed or coughed, a snotty bubble display showered any and all neighbouring THINGS. Including his bear, his clothes, his food and, of course…Mommy.

So when I dropped him off (late) today, I had a chat with his daycare worker about Mount Snot and without even answering me she pointed to the rest of the 18 month olds who were also running around spewing the lovely liquid out of THEIR nasal passages as well.

Lesson #2 from day care : your child is never the only one.

BUT, as we have learned, Toby always likes to do it to the EXTREME and with his own little flourish. And as I left the daycare this morning I felt a little twinge of satisfaction that Toby’s snot was still the MOST green and the most PROLIFIC of the bunch.