Tis the Season

Before I had kids, I never fully realized or appreciated just how often and easily children got sick. It was something I'd heard and read about, but I just didn't give it any thought.

Until the boys got their first cold when they were three weeks old. Two weeks before they were even due to be born.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence, a freaky super-contagious bug they'd somehow caught.

Or perhaps not.

Perhaps, as I have discovered with time, kids are virtual walking, talking petri dishes, with disgusting habits and tendancies that give them practically no chance at escaping germless as they go about their way. The flip side? No one is safe in the wake of their illness. Their slobbery little hands, their snotty noses, their insistence on touching everything. You get within a 5-foot radius from them, you're a goner. Even the furniture and walls aren't safe-- Jake likes to smear his boogers on the wall above his headboard (I've actually been waiting to be able to mention this in a blog).

Last cold and flu season (ha. like that's the only time they get sick), the boys had a particularly impressive go of it. With the exception of two blissful weeks, they (and by "they," I mean "we") were sick from October until April. I am not exaggerating. Along with a handful of random upper respiratory viruses that would last anywhere from one to three weeks, we also enjoyed the following: two separate stomach bugs (puke, puke, pukity puke), throat infections, sinus infections, acute mono (that's right, my two-year-olds had mono), and for the grand finale, influenza for the entire family, complete with 105F degree fevers and convulsive chills.

Obviously, we've entered into this brand new season with much trepidation, especially considering the boys are now in preschool with a multitude of other petri dishes twice a week. And those concerns, most unfortunately, have been legitmate.

By the end of their first week of preschool last month, the boys had acquired their first cold. Two weeks ago, they got their second, which by the next week had morphed into a third bug (our doctor informed us last year that you can get virus on top of virus on top of virus. Fascinating.) I used to try to keep myself protected against their germs, but there's no point; I get it regardless. Same thing with them sharing spoons, toys, food. In fact, I know some people will disagree with this, but early in the illness I encourage the sick one to share with the other just to go ahead and get it all over with.

So here we are mid-October, still all sick, and apparently our sickness has spread to others outside of the immediate family (at least last year it was all contained to Lexington). I'm working on a nice case of laryngitis, Hilton can hardly breathe at night, and the boys are still sporting snotty-green noses every day.

Ladies and gentleman, start your engines. The horses are in the gate, the coin has been tossed, the starting gun has fired.

Let the games begin.