Late Night Mothering

My children have a virus. Croup is part of this virus. Last night I had to waken a feverish toddler to force Motrin in her. After an hour that fever broke and I had a sweaty, uncomfortable toddler on my hands. We established a pallet on the floor in the living room. Eventually, the toddler woke up again. At 2 am we were having a nasty croup attack. And so into a steamy bathroom we went. Of course at this point the toddler was wide awake and Mommy was dead tired. So we gave into TV to let the toddler have some amusement and Mommy got sleep.

Late night mothering gives us the rare opportunity to be selfless in ways we don't expect. And at a time when no one can laud us for the "heroic sacrifices" of motherhood. It makes muscles ache and heads spin with exhaustion. And not so a voice can say, "Thanks Mom" but so we can see a smiling face just eating breakfast and find a child tearing apart his or her room with so much energy it just can't be possible.

I am happy to report that said toddler is fully recovered now!