Our first Christmas

Our first Christmas as a family of three was so awesome that we held it over so we could celebrate two days in a row.  Well, maybe we held it over because Oscar awoke on Christmas day with a horrible cold.  He had been feeling poorly for a couple days, with a fever running around 103 before Tylenol.  With Tylenol, it was dropping down to 100-101, so no big deal.  On Christmas morning, though, this is what Oscar looked like at about 8:00 am.  I sat him on the kitchen island and he proceeded to assume this position, which he really did not want to change.

I, of course, thought we should power through whatever Oscar was feeling and celebrate Christmas.  Etta, after all, was raring to go.

We moved into the living room, where Etta tried to get her brother to go check out the presents left by Santa.  When that didn’t get him off the sofa, she decided to take one for the team and feign the holiday spirit and open some presents.  Oscar eventually rallied when he saw Etta with a gift he liked (her princess ride on), walking to the playroom to get his similar toy (his birthday gift from Grandma and Papa for his first birthday).  Even he couldn’t get excited about it, though, and we decided to call off the unwrapping of the presents when he got off the car and fell asleep on the floor.

Eventually, when Oscar just couldn’t muster any energy at all, I broke down and took him to urgent care.  They thought it was either the flu, some random virus or pneumonia, but his chest x-ray was clear.   They sent us home with a prescription to force some fluids into him, preferably something like a milkshake (why do I never get these prescriptions for myself?) and we set off to find food.  Finding food on Christmas Day is not so easy.  I wasn’t able to stop at the store, since I was told not to take Oscar into public areas, since he was highly contagious, so a drive thru was needed.  Easier said than found.  Long story short, we ended up driving almost an hour to find food.  Oscar drank almost none of the required shake, but Etta made up for it, of course.  We managed to get home and ended our first Christmas together by falling into bed before 6:00 pm.

I figured there was no way Oscar was recovering from this bug for at least a couple of days, so I was in for a surprise when I got up this morning and found a bright-eyed Oscar asking for food.  After eating something, he ran into the living room and found his stocking.  Christmas mayhem finally ensued, with Oscar tearing through a few presents and then playing for hours.

Yes, Oscar is wearing the same pyjamas as the day before (he even wore these to the urgent care).  You can tell it’s another day, though, by the hair.

Thankfully, Oscar was willing to attend to his personal hygiene and take a shower (with glasses) before we opened more presents.

We got tired of opening presents.  Not because there were hundreds, but I’m happy to say that my kids like to open a present and then play with it for a considerable while.  No tearing through dozens of presents at a time yet.  The only downside is that we have now had three present-opening sessions and will need a fourth tomorrow to get through the presents under the tree.  Even I find three days of this to be a bit much.

Anyway, it ended up being a beautiful day today and we ventured outside to play with Oscar’s scooter.

The kids were having a good time, but I noticed Etta wasn’t looking quite like her fun-loving self, so we headed inside.

When we got inside, Etta showed me something awesome.  A nose even runnier than her brother’s had been the day before.  Super.  Then she threw up (which was the first symptom Oscar exhibited).  She’s now asleep with a fever, and I suspect that we’ll have to postpone our last day of opening presents and read some of these gifts instead.  I’m thinking that little kid who said “pooh” to receiving books for Christmas (see youtube) wouldn’t last long in our house. . .

Hope your holidays were healthier than ours.

December 26, 2010 - Posted by Oscar and Etta's mom | Etta, holidays, Oscar, Our family