What a couple of weeks! After recovering from flu, No*ah contracted a tummy virus and threw up for a few days, and then, as Ollie was getting better, we were terrified that he'd get that too. His doc was prepared to admit Oliv*er right away if he started throwing up --we had to work so hard to barely keep him properly hydrated. I spent hours spoon-feeding him water that he would only swallow one sip at a time with time in between. It wasn't easy on No^ah either, who'd also been recovering from the flu - he's lost almost 5 pounds, and we're really trying to fatten the little string bean back up. We separated them for a couple of days (that was fun - a sick, needy kid on each floor!) and No&ah thought it was pretty great getting to watch movies in his bed. Lots of people lent us DVD's to get through the time after the surgery. We didn't think we'd need them for 2 whole weeks!
But last Wednesday evening, No*ah was a mite better, and we went and bought a little Christmas tree together. I wasn't even going to get a tree because we're going to Manhatten for Christmas, but it was the one thing the boys seemed excited about. I was so very tired and so worried that day - Oliv&er just didn't seem to do anything but sleep and cry, and it was 10 days post-surgery. The nurse I checked in with over the phone seemed concerned, and suggested that he might need to come back to the hospital if he didn't perk up a little and eat more. No^ah, who can take quite a long time to make a decision about something, picked our little tree with an uncharacteristic singularity - a $15 understory tree that we had cut down to make it even smaller. He even asked the saleswoman where we should bring our car. He also picked out a couple of ornaments for Oliver that he wanted to hang in the living room windows so that Ollie would "have something lovely to look at". That boy can be such a stinker at times (especially with his parents - we hear nothing but good things from his teacher!), but sometimes his loving empathy is so beautiful to witness. When we got back home, No*ah completely lost his energy and asked to go to bed. His brother, meanwhile, was drinking on his own, and eating a bit, and had some color in his cheeks. After No@ah went to bed (at 5:30!), Ollie got up and helped me decorate the whole tree. I don't think I'll ever forget that evening - being with my sweet boy who politely picked out the tree and a gift for this brother and then with the other boy as he revived and helped create a thing of such beauty to help us to wait for Christmas.
I pretty much let him decorate it however he liked, being both so grateful for that moment and of the belief that a tree in a house with children ought to look like it. He's been steadily better ever since, though he's still up at night a lot. The steroids he was on so he could breathe he cause lingering insomnia (and impulsiveness and restlessness - fun when you're recovering from a tonsillectomy and the flu, and for your parents too!) . On Friday, he even went to school for just a couple of hours, and he'll go to a full day (with no gym) tomorrow. It was a messy, difficult couple of weeks, but we're just about through it now. Friends and family were really supportive and kind - sending little things for the kids, helping out No^ah while Ollie was in the hospital, bringing food. It made everything so much easier and more bearable.
As you can see, we had a snowstorm the other day. It was really hard to get my suddenly couch-potato, movie-watching kids back outside, but we did it, and we had a great time. (See how the boys switched the hoods on their jackets?)
The boys made a beautiful "snow lady".
Now I'm off to see how much butter I can sneak into the boys' dinner, because the wrong half of the family is losing weight before the holidays...
