It really isn’t that bad of a situation. I am not in the dog house. My son had a stuffy nose and a cough last night. He only showed mild signs of discomfort up until bedtime. He seemed to get quite a bit of relief throughout the day from taking in a bit more fluids, playing “pull my finger” with his sister and taking some Celestial Seasonings® Sinus Soother herbal tea. The tea is sweetened with Licorice root and Fennel and has Peppermint and Spearmint. The tea also contains Linden, Tulsi and Stinging Nettle. My boy knows all about Stinging Nettle from our little nature hikes.
A little after bedtime, he woke up with a barking cough, crying. Mom and I soothed him and quietly sang a couple lines from the Beatles’ song Blackbird. It was immediately clear that it was very uncomfortable for him to cough. I switched pants, threw on some boots and went to the pharmacy to get a safe cough medicine/nasal decongestant for a four year old. The first dose shot back out rapidly. Covered with emesis, I made certain his airway was clear, scooped him up and cranked the shower up to hot. I have memories of my mom rocking me in the bathroom with the hot shower running when I had croupe as a kid.
We had a wash down, got into some clean jammies (delivered by mommy who also remade our sick bed while we were in the steam room) then we tried the medicine again. It stayed down the second time. The old tried and true method was at hand. Keroro Gunso! A comic book, or manga, that was made into a cartoon, or anime series. We made it through episodes 7 and 8 of season one before I started to pass out. I played the parent card and told everyone that we had to go to sleep now. The couch of Borg had begun to assimilate more children as the night pressed on. My daughter had decided to ignore the quarantine order and join us for crackers and toons on the couch.
