Something Gross

Don't ask why I feel the need to write about this. I really have no idea. I'll try to be as undetailed as possible.

I do not like sickness. The upchuck kind. I mean, who does? There is nothing good about it, other than the fact that you almost always feel better once its done. I always worried about when I became a mother, and if- no when- my child would get sick, how I would react. If any of you have seen the movie version of The Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, remember that part where all the kids are sick, and Vivi just basically loses her mind? I've always been afraid that I would freak out like that. And yes, I realize I'm a little delusional and paranoid.

This morning, I woke up to the Monkey screaming. Not crying, not jabbering like he usually does when he wakes up, screaming. I dashed into his room and was welcomed by the scent of yuck. Poor Monkey had gotten sick, and of course it scared him half to death. I picked him up and he clung to me, covering me in the yuck.

I went into high-speed mommy mode. I striped him down and got him in the shower, cleaned him up, dried him off and got him in clean clothes. He was shaking the whole time, poor thing. Then I stripped his bedding and got it in the wash. I didn't think for one second how gross it was (well, okay, I did think it was gross, but not enough to distract me), or how horribly inconvenient it was that the Monkey had to get sick at a quarter to five in the morning. I didn't care. I just took care of it. Even when the hubby came in (he had to be at work EARLY this morning and was already awake) and saw the side of my face that Monkey had cuddled and gotten, um, yucky, I didn't flinch.

I'm not bragging. I'm not saying I'm Mother of the Year or anything like that. I'm saying that for a girl that doesn't like anything related to bodily fluids- I cringe whenever we watch CSI, and I can't even handle paper cuts- I can still take care of my kiddo in the midst of crisis. That makes me a little proud. And very thankful. The Monkey has gotten me to grow up in ways I probably never would have otherwise.

Thanks, Monkey Man.