She's OK now

Last Friday my five-year-old daughter was sick. She was having a bout with what my mother used to onomatopoeically call "The Glish": vomiting and diarrhea. I'm sure she was just experiencing some minor food poisoning complications, something most people go through several times a year. (And just FYI, there's no such thing as "24-hour stomach flu". Influenza is a respiratory viral infection. Glish is almost always food poisoning.) I'll spare you the messy, smelly details (use your imagination if you must) but she's totally fine now. In fact, she woke up on Sunday, got out of bed and loudly proclaimed, "Hey, everybody! My tummy doesn't hurt any more ... but my butt is still sore." I only bring this subject up because seeing her like that scared the teetotal whim-whams out of me, and I'm not sure I'm over that fear even yet. I've written here before about her trying medical issues and while I can deal with any other type of ailment as a caring but detached parent, the gastrointestinal episodes bring all the fear and horror of her e. coli episode back like it happened yesterday. I don't like being held prisoner by my own fear, but at the same time that fear shows me yet again the depth of my love for her and for her brother, too.

What follows now is an example of my daughter's wisdom and wiseassness. In fact, both my kids are smart and funny but this particular blurb is about her. I had put her in the shower Friday night so she could wash the vomit out of her hair (DON'T ASK!), and after doing so she sat down under the running shower, hung her head and said that she just wanted to rest in the warm water for a little while. After a few minutes, I solicitously asked, "Are you doing OK, sweetie?" Without looking up or moving, she replied, "I just washed my own throw-up out of my hair, so do you think I'm doing OK?" I had to admit that the answer was probably a "No". But she's OK now.