Sick Day

This morning my two year old woke up with a stuffy nose, congested cough, red eyes, fever and a less than sunny disposition. No doubt about it, she was sick. I felt bad for her, but must admit that I felt a little bit bad for myself too as I now had to cancel lunch with friends. When my husband asked her if she was sick, I was surprised to hear her answer 'yes!' She always says 'No, not sick. I better,' regardless of how sick she actually is. Probably because she does not want to be sick, especially since she knows that usually means not going outside to the playground, not playing with her friends and not getting to hug and kiss her baby brother. I thought she must be feeling really awful to actually say she was sick. And regretted my slightly selfish thoughts earlier.
After breakfast when I started to give her medicine to reduce her fever I was surprised again when she vehemently resisted and said, "NO!" She loves the taste of the medicine, and would take it every day if I let her. I reminded her that she liked the medicine and that it would help her feel better. "No, I sick," she said.
"Don't you want to feel better?" I asked, nodding myself and prompting her to say yes. Her reply surprised me yet again and sparked a conversation that went something like this:
"Don't you want to feel better?"
"No, not want better...I sick."
"You want to be sick?"
"Yes!"
"Do you like to be sick and feel yucky?"
"Noooooo."
"So you don't want to be sick then."
"Yes, want sick." (she was almost in tears at this point)
"Ok, why do you want to be sick?"
"Watch lotta shows, sit wif momma."

Ah Ha!! I had to suppress a chuckle, because she was dead serious. Even though she did not feel well and admitted that she did not want to feel yucky, she had no desire to feel better immediately as she did not want to miss out on the special privileges that being 'sick' afforded her. Namely, getting extra attention from me and being allowed to watch more that her usual one show (DVD/video of her choice). I assured her that even if she took the medicine she would not be better right away and promised to give her lots of extra hugs no matter how she felt that day. As the day wore on she seemed to get worse, cried a lot and her fever went up. Sitting quietly on my lap while she watched a favorite show she looked up at me and said - "No show, I better!" She seemed to believe that if she said she was better she would be and obviously felt so miserable that she decided that even watching as many hows as she wanted and sitting with mommy was not worth being sick!!

If only we could be sick or well be just speaking the word!! Perhaps that does not always work with our physical state....but it can sometimes work to adjust our mood or attitude. Speaking it, is like making a decision that it will be so. Remembering that, I have decided to be joyful and patient today, even if I did miss lunch with friends, have a sick crabby little girl and lots of housework!!