It's cold season

Ellie's immune system finally kicked in this past winter. Kid after kid got sick at daycare, and she managed to not get sick for the most part. She did catch that stomach virus thing in December, but other than that, she was doing really well. I, on the other hand, have already been sick a few times in the past few months; my immune system is crap.

I was sick again the beginning of last week, and once again, she managed not to catch it from me. Probably because I washed my hands like every five seconds. As the week progressed, all the kids at daycare managed to catch something. There was stomach stuff, a nasty cough, an ear infection, you name it. Ellie was the only one that remained healthy through it all.

Until Sunday. She started acting crabby after nap, and by the end of the evening, we knew she was sick. She had quickly developed an ugly cough out of no where. Fan-f'n-tastic.

She woke up around 5am, coughing, and it actually knocked her out of bed, I think. I ran into her room when I heard the bang, but she was sitting up in her bed by the time I got there. Either she hit her foot against the bed or fell out; either way, she showed no signs that anything hurt, which was good. I brought her into bed with us for the rest of the night (morning), and she managed to sleep another couple of hours.

She was home with Harry yesterday since he had President's day off, and she did OK, even with the annoying and most likely painful cough. Last night, she had a little trouble catching her breath at times, and that kind of freaked her out. She started running around the room, like she was looking for an air pocket or something. It would have been comical if it wasn't so heart-breaking.

I gave her some Motrin a little before bed, and it kicked in quickly. She managed to fall asleep without a problem. She was a little restless the first few hours after she fell asleep, but by 11pm, she seemed OK. She slept pretty soundly the rest of the night.

I had already planned on staying home with her today. I like to give her a chance to rest whenever she's feeling really crappy. Daycare is just a little too loud for that.

She woke up this morning with the cough pretty much gone, thank goodness. Now she's got more of a head congestion cold, which I'm really familiar with; it's how my colds run every time. Poor kid. I see that faraway look in her eyes I get myself when my head's all stuffed up. She looks exactly like me when I'm sick, which is to say miserable.

She's vegging on the sofa with a pillow, blanket, and a baby doll right now, watching Toot and Puddle, one of her new favorite shows. Every once in a while, I look over at her, she looks at me, and just smiles. She's such a sweetheart. I hope she feels better soon.

And on a totally different note, Toot and Puddle must be gay. That's all I have to say about that.