Breakin' the Rules

My philosophy for sick kids is this: you are miserable, let's make you as comfortable as possible. If that involves breaking all the house rules for a day or two, let's do it.

Pre-fever. Note disposable in order to use the super duper thick butt cream. And yes, he's staring at Elmo's precious face.

For this particular bout of diarrhea followed by 102 degree fever with a side of acid poop induced diaper rash, we broke the following rules:

• Limited TV - we watched the Elmo DVD no less than 8 times and the Ernie one no less than 6. In two days. One time we watched part of one at 2:30 in the morning.
  
• Sleep in your own bed - this rule was broken when Eliot woke up 2.5 minutes after I fell asleep. After midnight. Justin was out of town so I pulled him into bed with me and he immediately cozied up and zonked out. And then proceeded to flop around like he was skankin' at a Bosstones show.
  
• No eating in front of the TV: When your child doesn't eat or drink anything all day and you are sort of freaking out that they might shrivel up like a raisin and you'll have to carry around your shrunken, wrinkled baby for all the world to see, you make compromises. When Eliot would finally consent to eating a (pediatrician approved) popsicle (or two), but only if Elmo was within eye-shot, I happily obliged.
• Binky is just for night-night: This was an easy rule to break. Blue (that's Binky's name, he's, uh, blue - duh) was pretty much plugged in for 36 hours straight.
  

Yes, that's the sofa in the background. The room with the TV. But look how pathetic that face is. Could you say no?

And we lived. And today, the rules, or guidelines, as we will try and refer to them, are back in effect. Blue stayed in the crib, all meals happened table-side, and he slept all night in his own bed. Until morning. Without waking up.

On the mend. Hour 22 of "Put Down the Duckie". Because you have to put down the duckie if you want to play the saxophone.