Liam has had a terrible week. We all have.

There's some kind of virus going around and I think everyone I know has had it over the past week or so. I've been on vacation this week, and I've spent a great deal of my vacation in the bathroom, thanks to this virus. Liam has it right now, and the virus seems to be capping his week off in style.

Wednesday there was a snow day in this county (no actual snow that I saw, but it was in the forecast, so there was a snow day) and the kids missed school. So I watched the kids because Wendy had class and college classes aren't canceled just because the word snow has been used on the radio.

So Wednesday morning I managed to make it to the couch just as Wendy was leaving for school, and I promptly fell back asleep as soon as I sat down. I woke up some time later, and this is what I saw: Liam was face down in the hallway and Chester, our basset hound, was standing on top of him. Chester was looking at me as if to say "Hey, look! I conquered the boy!" Liam, face down and highly agitated, was yelling at Chester that this was "his last chance" to get off of him. I don't think that Chester was too concerned.

I called Chester to the couch, which he promptly conquered as enthusiastically as he'd conquered the boy, and Liam went to his room to play Gamecube.

Yesterday evening the virus hit Liam like a freight train, and he became something of a human fire hydrant. (How's that for an image?) This, of course, involved a great deal of crisis management and clean-up on the part of the adults in the area. Liam did manage to make it to the bathroom, but he hadn't managed to make it to the toilet, so the bathroom wasn't in ideal shape. Because I have a violent aversion to vomit, Wendy got stuck doing the cleaning while I just fetched stuff (mop, bucket, Pine-Sol, etc.)

Wendy hates the smell of Pine-Sol. She says that her clearest childhood memories of the scent of Pine-Sol are associated with someone having just thrown up, so the very smell of Pine-Sol makes her feel sick. To me, Pine-Sol conjures up the image of a fresh, clean pine forest. For Wendy, Pine-Sol conjures up the image of a fresh, clean pine forest … that someone has thrown up in.

I felt bad for Liam last night because … well, he was throwing up. And he was crying about it because … well, everyone hates to throw up. Especially little kids. It could have been worse, though. At least Chester didn't take advantage of Liam's state to launch a new attack.

Labels: Humor, Personal