My enervating stomach flu, and my two-year old was a sweetheart though it!

Been so sick the whole, what’s it’s been, don’t know, been more than a week now..intestinal infection or something like that. It was debilitating and I was smart enough not to drink enough water, so guess what, I almost landed myself in hospital! But, long story short, the doctor fired me (as did my family…) and I sulked in bed sipping oral re hydration salts in water for three days! But, at least the hospital was avoided, if only by a hair’s breath.

So this is when I thank God for being in India, because I just handed my daughter to my maid and didn’t know anything for all that time. But, in my waking moments I was worried about her, wondering if she was able to cope, was she cranky? Did she feel sad..

But it amazed me how resilient little kids can be. My mother always told me that but I had my doubts. Now, however, I don’t. My daughter was amazing through it all. She would run up to me in bed and say “mama, ouchie okay?”. I’d tell her I was better and then she’s run along saying “mama got ouchie in her tummy”. She ate, bathed, and even slept without me even so much as getting up (to the extent that, I must admit that happy as I was about this development, I was a tad bit disappointed that she was quite cool about it – I consoled myself by saying that it was because she could still see me and so was not insecure!)

But this incident made me feel better, well, mostly, about her adjusting to my absence if I were to take up full-time work. I was always told that mothers worry more than the kids, and, though I still stand my ground (because there are times when the child will not co-operate!), I am now willing to listen to the other point of view..