This poor little guy was sick as a dog for the past three weeks (which is why I haven’t been on the blog as much as I would have liked.)
First, it was teething. Teething, I can handle.
Then it was a combined stomach bug (vomiting and diarrhea) with a fever. This was an all night affair, and the baby was absolutely miserable. Come to find out, he also had a double ear infection.
This was the night that I turned to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Something I didn’t think I’d be doing for a long time to come. Babies don’t watch TV or really understand what’s happening on the screen, right? So why would they need to watch TV?
Honestly, it’s because I was about to lose my mind. I was exhausted, I hadn’t slept in days thanks to the teething, and now he was throwing up all over himself and me. The little guy was burning up and was MISERABLE. I couldn’t stop him from whining, he didn’t want to eat, nor could he sleep.
But when Mickey came on, and started calling out “Oh tooooodles,” Itty Bitty became memorized. Maybe it was the funny voices, or the colors, or the music. It most certainly wasn’t him solving puzzles or learning how to count, or whatever lesson it was that he was supposed to learn.
He stopped crying. He stopped figiting. He stopped being present in the fact that he felt like absolute crap.
I held him, damp facecloth over his head, and closed my eyes. I sort of napped for those 23 minutes. Granted, I still hear “Oh toooooodles” ringing through my head from time to time, but I don’t care. Disney worked it’s magic that night.
The show distracted him enough to make him sleepy again, and after that episode (or two…) he fell back asleep until 9am, when I got him ready for the doctors office.
Thank you Mickey and friends. Thanks for teaching me a lesson – that all of us parents will do things we said we wouldn’t do. Sometimes we don’t have any other options. Or sometimes we just need a break.
What have you done with your kids that you originally thought you would NEVER do?
I learned to never say never…
The little guy gets in my bed in the middle if the night.
tootles! Yes- Many nights of that show- I think my son remembers those nights and has since boycotted that show! lol- but not the real thing- Disney is a still his big Love!
I was totally anti-tv too. Until I needed to get ready for work in the morning and nothing held his attention long enough for me to shower, or put on eyeliner, or brush my teeth. But if it's Disney…I'm ok with it. 😉
I can't remember how many "nevers" became "always"! That's why mommyhood is a masterpiece in-the-making, every single day, month, year, decade, century! Hope your little guy is feeling much, much better, and Mommy, too… xo
I still have these night with my almost 7-year old. =( Hate when the kiddos are sick.