What was I just saying about the unpredictability of life? I was finishing up a relaxing evening eating takeout and watching Top Chef All-Stars on Wednesday night when I started winding down for bed. It was about 11:15 p.m. and I suddenly heard Elisa crying out and coughing. As I opened the door and peered into the darkness, I knew immediately something was wrong. She was sobbing and trying to talk, but all I could hear was the wheezing and gasping of croup. Oh yes, here we go again. It was exactly a year ago this weekend that she came down with croup for the first time. It was scary and caught me off guard not only because it sounds like she can't breathe, but also because of the speed with which it developed, seemingly in a matter of hours. But this time, I suppose we had some forewarning of a cough and cold and maybe eye infection that seemed to drag on for a few days beforehand. But still, hearing her in distress and knowing that we had a long night ahead of us was no fun. The steam shower routine helped for a while and after I tried to return her to her bed with no luck, I realized that this might be a good occasion to break the rules and let her sleep with me. Nacho was working for the next two nights, so Elisa took over his pillow and seemed giddy at the thought of sleeping in our bed. At nearly 12:30 a.m. I had a little girl lurking over my face saying, "Did somebody say bananas??" (For fans of The Fresh Beat Band, this will sound familiar). After a few more hours of tossing and turning, crying out and falling back asleep, we had made it. With the daylight, she was already acting better and I took her into the city to get checked out just as a precaution. All clear. Just croup. So we rested up at home the rest of the day and the next night was much improved. Still coughing and waking a lot, but by the time Nacho came home the following morning, she was definitely on the mend. The high temperature in the 60s meant we were definitely getting out of the apartment that day, so we headed into the city Friday afternoon and had a great time wandering around. The streets were overflowing with people all eager to embrace a little bit of spring come early. Here she is chowing down on some pasta at Otto near Washington Square Park.
And of course, gelato for dessert was a given. Elisa picked the hazelnut stracciatella and told us to back off--it was all hers. I think this face was because Nacho tried to swipe some. She was all business. The good mood and eating made me think this croup stuff was on the way out and it probably was. But with the weather taking a bitter turn on Saturday, we were back to hunkering down inside and listening to Elisa cough her head off every time she laid down. A few more nights of this and it seems to be leaving us, but man, it couldn't happen fast enough. Just a few nights of constant interruptions and I am already beat. Not a good sign of things to come in August, but hey, we'll survive that too. If nothing else, this makes me appreciate all the good nights we have now that Elisa is two and a half and how much more confident I feel as the mom of a sick kid. It was still no fun to deal with, but at least croup didn't knock me completely off my guard this time around. They say kids outgrow it around 3 or so, which means I'm hoping next February we can take that weekend off. We'll see.
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