Rocking the Sickies

Olivia has had a bad cold for almost a week. By cold, I mean she had a fever the first night and then sinus congestion, a cough and a disgustingly runny nose the rest of the time.

I give her a non-drowsy decongestant during the day and another, sleep-inducing one each evening.

All this sickness for her has led to me rocking her to sleep at night. She loves, loves, loves this. Each evening since last Thursday, which was the first night I rocked her to sleep, she’s asked if we’re going to rock again.

My girl loves being babied. And to be honest, I’m pretty content to baby her as long as she’ll let me.

Alyssa, on the other hand, is not amused by O’s need for rocking. Alyssa pointed out, “I had a cold last week and no one rocked me.”

I asked her if she asked to be rocked and she replied, “Of course not!” As if I’s suggested some ridiculous. Eleven year olds are a mass of contradictions.

I then pointed out, “You know that whenever Liv catches a cold from you, she always gets hit with is about twenty times worse than you do.”

This is true. While Alyssa did have a cold, it consisted of the sniffles for about three days. Olivia is on day six of green snot, hacking coughs and congestion. She hasn’t had a fever since that first night so I’m thinking she’s going to kick this one on her own. But still, this is more than the sniffles.

She did go to school today, since her nose is no longer a color just a few shades lighter than Rudolph’s glowing nose. She asked this morning if she was going to school and when I informed her that yes, she was going to school, she gave me a bit of a glare, which only confirmed that the child needs to be back at school.

But just before getting on the bus, she asked if she could rock with me tonight, I hugged my baby and told her that of course we could rock together tonight.

Like I said, I’ll rock her as long as she’ll let me.