Nick Takes the Wheel

I'm sure I've mentioned that Nicholas and Nathan take turns driving me crazy. Driving me to nuts, so to speak. Well, it's Nick's turn.

Nathan woke again at 4am, pretending it was time to get up, and I refused to let him. I put him in his crib and let him scream, returning every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure he hadn't wedged a limb through the bars of the crib, or spit up, or been attacked by a very large rat or a zombie or something.

And then, at about 10am, Nick took over. It started at the library, where he was running around and jumping and doing things one simply does not do in a library. But then, as soon as we got home, the monster took over. THE COLD. Steve insists it couldn't have anything to do with the 4 minutes he was exposed to 40 degree Mt. Washington summit weather in inadequate clothing. But I'm not ruling anything out. The kid is AWFUL.

I feel bad, because he is obviously sick and uncomfortable, He can't stay asleep because he can't breathe. So he wakes up and cries. And screams. When I ask him what's wrong he screams louder - a scream you would give if someone were trying to rip your heart out of your ribcage with their bare hands. Gali Ma. Drool pours from his mouth. I do the only thing I really CAN do, which is to give him medicine. But since putting a dropperful of medicine directly into his mouth requires eight arms to hold him down, pry his mouth open, convince him to swallow, and also manipulate the medicine dropper, and I usually end up with medicine everywhere BUT in the boy, I resort to trickery. I put it in his juice.

But Nick will not drink the juice. He holds it as though it were his only source of comfort, having been abandoned by his mother. "Drink the juice," I say. "AHHHHHHHH!" he screams. He clutches the juice in the bed, and it inevitably ends up upside down and drips, forming a huge wet spot on the bed. I get frustrated. I try to take the juice away. "AHHHAHAGHAGHA!" he screams.

He will not eat. He will not drink juice. He will not do ANYTHING. Except scream and watch TV. School starts Wednesday. I am so tired I could cry thinking about it. So I don't. I just eat - today I had a whole half pound of fudge, ten cookies, and five licorice wheels. I'm eating FOR Nick. Does this make sense?

He's already woken up twice tonight, and there is nothing I can do for him. I plump pillows. I hand him his juice. I try to get him as comfortable as I can. I leave the room and hope Nate stays asleep. That is all.