It’s a good thing that it’s a Saturday.  It’s a good thing that we didn’t have any plans today:  none at all — Dan even went to the grocery store yesterday evening, which is our “every Saturday” thing.  It’s good that it was really cold outside (about 15 as a high) so we didn’t feel like we were missing out on park weather or anything.  All of these things are good because we spent the day inside with a vomiting preschooler.

We’re really lucky, too, because this is our first real experience with this kind of stomach illness with our kids.  Benjamin’s been sick before, but it’s always been an isolated incident, from eating too much or being too rambunctious after a big meal or even crying himself into nausea.  But it would happen just once and then he’d be better.

Not today.  Shortly after he woke up this morning, he started puking, and continued all morning until (and beyond) there was nothing left to get up.  My poor guy.  It’s so hard to watch him struggle and suffer and to not be able to help — it’s just one of those things you have to wait through, and 3 year olds aren’t known for their patience (even with good things).  The only thing we could do for him was to withhold most food and drink until he started keeping stuff down — and even though I know that’s the right thing to do, it’s hard to feel nurturing when your hungry child is asking for food and you say no.  I could take comfort in knowing how short-lived these stomach illnesses typically are, but I know that conveying that to B didn’t really help his day at all.

It’s been a few hours since our last “incident”, and he seems to be feeling better.  It’s really hard to keep a kid quiet when they’re feeling a bit better after being miserable, so right now (just after dinner) he’s running around, being an airplane.  (I imagine we’ll find out soon if he really is better or if this is temporary — being an airplane tends to demonstrate this, one way or another.)

I hope he’s really doing better.  I hope Liam manages to miss this one (I’d hate to see him sick, too, and a sick 16 month old is worse than a sick 3 year old, because you don’t even get any warning).  I hope they both sleep well tonight and wake up feeling fantastic for a brand new day tomorrow.