going hand-in-hand with the 2 under 2 posts, i thought i’d do a “how i do what i do” series. now, please know, i’m not telling you how to do anything in your own life. and if what i tell you leads to some unfortunate series of events then know that i’m not liable for your life. i’m just telling you what works for me. having said all of the stuff that i have to say, i’ll go on to say what i want to say.
as you all know last week the virus hit us hard and all at once. and i realized i handled it so much better than i did when i only had two kiddos. and that’s because i have a plan, that’s well used now.
the first battle is one of the mind. when the first child starts throwing up i prepare my mind for war. i realize all plans i had are now off. period. on the way to the movies? let it go. planning for the zoo? nope, no chance. a shopping trip alone? forget it. sleeping? through. now that you’ve gotten yourself happy about serving others and knowing that getting your plans cancelled is not the end of the world you can move on to the action part of your plan.
get your child into the bath. put the clothes in the floor of the bathroom. at this stage it’s all about the child. get them clean, settled, reassured. if they’re little and you got covered too, then get right in the shower with them. you usually have a small window of peace before the next wave of vomit. in this window – get busy. start the laundry. and start a pile in the laundry room that will be reserved as puke pile. this is where you revisit the mind battle. just know that at some point you won’t be wading through throw up, but while there are more than one going at it and especially if you’re one of the ones, you’re just gonna have puke piles.
we don’t have lots of trash cans. in fact, we only have 2 in the house, which is not nearly enough. and my experience with very small ones all puking at once, they rarely hit the target and you don’t have time to sit with each child. put a towel in the floor closest to them. lay them on one of those waterproof mattress pads (you know, the flat ones that are crib size?) then put a couple of large towels on top of this. drape them all over the side of the bed, couch, wherever you put them. now, in theory, they have a fairly protected area to cover.
when there are 2 you just handle the most immediate issue and move to the next. keep that laundry going – the puke piles should be building by now. turn on the tv and park them there. for the duration. i don’t care if you normally don’t watch much tv – now is the time, people. and drop all schedules. nobody naps? oh well. they’re napping at 7pm? it’ll be all right.
at this point, cut all food and liquids. you’re in survival mode. just hunker down and take the attacks. and enjoy the relative calm, because you probably only have one throwing up right now. get all your towels in one spot, find all the quilts and blankets you have – you’ll probably go through more than you can imagine. gather your wits about you and get ready for round 2.
