You’re never too young for man flu.

You’re never too young for man flu.

Charlie’s sick today. His first cold, I think. Or it could be teething. Not sure to be honest – I’m just kinda making it up as I go along. I will say though, that Twitter and Facebook can be mighty helpful for late night medical advice. Who knew?)

He was a bit snuffly yesterday morning but he’s had touches like that on and off and it never developed, so I thought nothing of it. We packed up and went off to celebrate mum’s birthday (and early Mother’s Day for all the gals in the family). It was great and he was love-bombed by everyone in the family and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.

But when we got home he went downhill, snotty and coughing and sneezing. He was hot and miserable and screaming on and off and doing his weird wah-wah-wah wind down noise so I brought him out to the couch and made him a bed next to us. He was happy for a bit with the novelty of that, but then back to crying and doing his very loud wah-wah-wah etc. (It was so loud we had to tell him several times to tone it down so we could hear the vacuous conversations on Real Housewives of Melbourne. We were joking. Sort of.)

The poor bubba just got hotter and hotter and started crying in this desperate way so despite everyone on social media telling us to forget Panadol til he has a temperature (and our two thermometers only had him at 37.2), I gave him some around 11pm. He sat on his dad’s lap and calmed right down and then went to sleep.

We’d had a leak in our room and it was chilly in there, but warm in the lounge room, so I decided to make a big bed on the couch and sleep there with him. He didn’t let go of me all night. I know everyone needs a bosom for a pillow, but this kid takes it to new heights. (My gigantic bosoms didn’t even work for breastfeeding but he still loves motorboating and snuggling into them whenever possible.)

The upside of my poor chubba being sick is that he’s started calling me mama. “Mama, mama,” he cried last night, holding up his arms for me. He’s said it a million times this morning too, snotty and coughing and just wanting cuddles. I think it’s safe to say he’s no longer teasing me with the ‘ma-ma-ma-mas’ and finally knows that ‘mama’ means me. Which is kind of heart-explodingly major. (I’m pretty sure that counts as his first word.)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go suction some more snot out of my little guy’s nose.

Journalist. New mama. Mr Chick's missus. Blogger at The Mama Files, Reality Chick, Letter To My Ex and Rachel's List. Author of sex advice book, Get Lucky. Writer for Good Health, CLEO, Woman's Day, Inside Out, NineMSN and many more. Current fantasy: adding a rooftop hot-tub to the house.

8 Comments

  1. Vanessa 9 years ago

    I have no child-based experience, but I know for me that I rarely have a fever when I feel fevery when I have a bug. Go with what works for you!

    • Author
      Rachel 9 years ago

      It’s so weird isn’t it Vanessa? We know ourselves so well when it comes to illness but it’s a whole new ballgame with bubbas. I’m trying to just read his signs but I wish he could talk to me too 🙂

  2. Jenna 9 years ago

    Wow how lovely! How old is he now? Has he said dadda yet? I want some mama-mama action 😉

    • Author
      Rachel 9 years ago

      He says dadda and mama all the time but it’s just this week we’re starting to think that he knows what the words mean, rather than just babbling. He’s 8 months now; my friend said hers started saying it around 9-10 months so hopefully he’s early! I hope yours breaks out the ‘mama’ soon. It is truly awesome when your kid looks at you and says MAMA… ahhhhhhhhhh! Makes all those frigging sleepless nights and early mornings and looooong days worth it 🙂

      • Jenna 9 years ago

        Sounds early to me 😉
        My girl is nearly 7 months, I’ll impatiently keep waiting! Totally right, the smiles are what get me through right now 🙂

        • Author
          Rachel 9 years ago

          I’m guessing she’s laughing too? I spend most of my time trying to get a giggle out of Charlie Bear. Very cute 🙂

  3. Kelly 9 years ago

    Oh it’s brilliant when they start saying Mumma!! It will sometimes make you literally have tears rolling down your face it’s that special. Then they grow up a bit more and scream other interesting words.

    Yes my son certainly puts it on when he is sick as well….he is 2 years old, so there is a whole dramatic part that goes with it. I do believe in nurofen and panadol, but only if really necessary and they don’t seem to be getting better.

    I will start following your blog page and facebook page. I think we sound like we have some common factors :). xo

    • Author
      Rachel 9 years ago

      Absolutely! Thanks for connecting with me Kelly, it’s great to meet other parents with littlies as most of my mates have older children! Must go check out your blog this arvo 🙂

      Yes, on the rude words thing – I heard a story from a friend yesterday about how her little boy asked her about the ‘c’ word. And he wasn’t talking about ‘crap’. Eeeek 🙂

      Charlie’s on the mend thank god, we’ve resorted to panadol/nurofen a few times and for the most part he’s been pretty good, just a bit snotty and extra clingy! xo

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