Sometimes, single mom, all you can do is… all you can do
The King of Everything is recovering from his surgery. He doesn’t know how to slow down, take care of himself, take it easy. He moves pell mell through life and doesn’t stop til he drops; the pain in his throat makes eating and drinking a chore he’d rather forgo. By six he’s wilted, his head on his arms at the table, trying not to cry. There is so little I can do to make him feel better, but those things, I do: I rock him and sing to him, I smile and say encouraging things to him, I make him take his pain medicine even though it is VILE.
Sometimes, I just hold him and whisper, “I know, baby, I know.”
When he was a little boy, maybe 13 or 14 months old, we both caught the rotavirus. I’d had it for eight hours before he succumbed, giving me just enough time to get over the worst of it before he began. He was so sick, and I had just been through what he was suffering in my arms, and so I knew there was little I could do but nurse him when he could stand it, give him ice chips and pedialyte whenever he would take it, and just be there. I spread a waterproof mat on the floor and brought in a plastic trash can to hold him over whenever he vomited. Between bouts, I rocked him and sang. I sing songed, “I know, baby, I know,” and we got through it somehow.
When we moved to Dubai, we were hit hard with every type of plague and misery. The King of Everything and I spent the first six months with some kind of illness or another. I was hit with strep throat, some mysterious ague that gave me a fever of 105 and the chills and aches in every part of my body. The Kid was terrifically ill, too, and one night his fever spiked–never high enough for worry, but scary in a child whose body temperature was always a tad below normal. I checked on him often that night, and found him sitting up in bed, staring at me with begging eyes. “Ahhhhh no, bebe,” he chanted, putting his arms up to be held. “Ahhhhh no.”
I know, baby. I know.
Happy Mother’s Day, each. Know that everything you do, no matter how small, makes a difference in your child’s life.
Tags: comfort, motherhood, Mothering, mothers-day, mothers-work, single-mom, single-mommy, single-motherRelated Stories
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2 opinions for Sometimes, single mom, all you can do is… all you can do
Jennifer
May 13, 2007 at 11:01 am
Well Today is Mother’s Day it is my second one and It is very disapointing. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, maybe for my 18 month old to not throw her food on the floor, not have any fits or not pull the cords out of the outlets today. I think for your fist mother’s day everyone makes a big deal so Maybe that is why I am feeling a little let down. In the end I have hugged my child extra today and when I look at her I know she is the best thing that has ever happen to me and I wouldn’t change anything. I guess it makes it a good Mother’s day because she is taking a nap and I can take a shower.
christina
May 13, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Happy Mother’s Day, Jennifer. Being a parent requires a sense of humor. All I can say is, Happy Mother’s Day, lady, you have a perfectly normal little handful.
Keep things low key for the Hallmark Holidays. That way, you’re never disappointed cause you’ve never bought into the hype.
And yes, a shower without the barnacle is a lovely Mother’s Day, indeed. My four year old still doesn’t know we’re two separate people!
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