Real Zoo Around Here

To my son Tommy,

Cabin fever may have set in. I spent what little energy I had helping you turn our sofa into a zoo. Your zoo has the usual, elephants and zebras and the like, the mundane, cats and dogs and the like, and the unusual from dragons to dinosaurs! If I only have one burst of energy today, it was well spent.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

To my son Tommy,

The past few days have taught me much about life and attitude and perspective.  The Downeys have been sick and feeling quite miserable.  Congestion, body ache, cough, you name it and it is contributing to our general disposition.  When such misery finds someone the usual pleasantries of life fly out the window.  Interactions are reduced to the base necessity to accomplish what is needed, as evidenced by my past few blog posts.  You just want to be left alone and can never muster the energy for anything else.

So I can focus on this feeling, focus in on the work I am falling behind in, focus in on the bad...or I can look to my son for his example.  There have been moments that you have been a grouch, and not a single soul can begrudge you these moments.  You have had to adjust to nebulizers and suffer bad tasting medicines.  When I give you one of these supposedly "cherry" tasting medicines, you look at me look like "Yeah, sure, tastes like cherries, taste like cherries that have been eaten and passed by a deer!".  But the instances seem to be the exception with you and not the rule.  You have attacked this illness like a male version of Pollyanna.  You have refused to abandon your manners and insist on thanking every doctor and nurse in your path.  You have  prided yourself in wearing your mask as you take the nebulizer treatment.  You have kept playing and imagining and the only difference there is you seem to give your stuffed animals a couple more doctor checkups as you play.

Again I can focus in on the bad, or think about the good of this week.  The extra time I got to play with my son.  The time I got to see your mom just make you crack up laughing by smelling your piggy toes and saying P.U. as we sat in the emergency room and you were getting a neb treatment.  The time I got to see true courage as a three year old faced the unknown terrors of doctors and hospital without blinking an eye.  The feeling of my son laying his head on my lap and falling asleep at what is close to the end of a rough week.  Focusing on the love and beauty of the littlest moments, even in the midst of the throes of misery due to health, can make the world a better place.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

The Battle Continues

To my son Tommy,

We armed with nebulizer treatments and antibiotics for the house. The war on illness continues for the Downey household.

It is days like these that make us appreciate the days we are in good health. Perhaps we took good health days for granted. Hopefully soon we will be back to those care free cough free congestion free days.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

No Air

To my son Tommy,

I am relieved to say we did not overreact yesterday.  For if we blew this off who knows what state we would be in today.  You were laboring so hard for air.  We spent about 10 hours in doctors office and emergency rooms.  The picture above is you getting a nebulizer treatment.  The doctors think you have asthma complicated with a cold or flu.

Asthma is a scary word for your parents.  It conjures up all kinds of images and possible limitations of your life.  How the doctors can jump to asthma when this is the first ever event is a little beyond me, but two seperate doctors did at two different locations.  We will deal with all the implications of asthma later.  For now we just need to get you through.

To complicate your sickness. your dad has been hit like a mack truck with flu like symptoms.  It has almosty imbolized me for the day.  Somehow your mother is fighting through her sickness and thank goodness.  Who knows where we would all be without her.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

The Perils Of School Age

To my son Tommy,

Let me say that this morning you were in a miserable mood with all rights to be.  You stayed up half the night coughing and congested.  You haven't run a fever so we are not sure if the doctor will do anything but look at us like we are clueless over concerned first time parents.  That didn't stop us from making the appointment though and we are probably guilty as charged with regards to being overly concerned.

We were warned that this happens when you send kids off to school.  Sick kids make more sick kids and you seem to be no exception to the rule.  You are from good tough stock and we expect you just to get through your illness in no time.  The doctor's appointment is to make sure it is nothing serious.  In this day and age with everything from west nile virus to swine flu to bird flu, you can never be too careful.  I even heard of a case of the bubonic plague out in Colorado in the past month or so.  That is why we get you to the doc and get a baseline and start the clock on how long you have been having symptoms and such, instead of just saying "suck it up boy" or telling ourselves "he'll be fine".  It is probably just the change of weather.

The little chest cold or throat tickle or whatever it is, seems to have spread to me and maybe your mother.  I have a sniffle today and a tickle in the throat. So this week you are going to see me off spraying lysol and other disinfectants through out the house.  No doorknob or handle or surface is safe when I get on this kick, so watch out.  On a side note we can only hope that your mother decides to make some of her chicken noodle and dumpling soup to sooth what ails us.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

Let Me Do It Myself

To my son Tommy,

You are at a phase in your life where you are excited to be independent.  If I start doing something for you or helping you, you give me a reminder (sometimes not so gently) by saying "Let me do it myself!"  Unless we are pressed for time or it is dire situation, I usually back off and let you at least attempt whatever task you are trying to accomplish.  You still ask for help after a few failed attempts, but you do give it an honest try.  Asking for assistance after you give it a try yourself suggests that perhaps the super stubborn Irish pride has lessened through the generations.

Your present state of mind actually makes you a great example for everyone.  You don't won't things just handed to you.  You are willing to do the work.  You are willing to try.  You accept when you need help.  You watch and learn when someone has to help you so the next time when you "need" to do it yourself you can make a better attempt.  If only more adults, or even more nations for that matter, would follow this mindset, this world would be a better place.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

The Power Of Five

To my son Tommy,

If you have five minutes, you have enough time to do amazing things in your life.  Time is not the end all be all limiting factor we make it out to be.  What can you do?  Pick one.

Go find your mom and give her a hug.
Straigthen up a room.
Dream.
Go outside and fill your lungs with fresh air.
Dial a friend and say hi.
Read a poem.
Laugh.
Say a prayer.
Stretch.
Tell a joke and make someone laugh.
Brush your teeth.
Imagine.
Eat an apple.
Tell someone you love them.
Play.
Write a blog post.

You name it, chances are you can find something to do.  Too often we fill our free time with...well, nothing.  We just let the time slip away.  These small things on this list are just off the top of my head and perhaps I should sit down and think out my master list for when I find myself doing nothing.  But each of these can make your day or life better or easier.  What you choose can increase your fiber, strengthen your body, or feed your soul.  And most of them can be done in much less than the 5 minutes.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

P.S. (written and typed in 4 minutes 33 seconds)