Sick at bedtime

Settle into your chair. I have a Natey story that you don't want to miss. It's not a normal Natey story. The 'normal' story is funny. This one - not so much.

I'm not positive when this started, but I believe it was around last Saturday sometime. When we put Nathan to bed that night he said he didn't feel well and wanted someone to lay with him. Claire was still sick at the time and it was quite possible that Nathan wasn't quite better from his flu bug. So, Justin went up and laid with him for a while. The next day, Sunday, is my 'work, sleep, work' day. While I was sleeping, Justin was busy getting the kids through their nightly routine. When it was time for Natey to go to bed, he told Justin that he wasn't feeling well again and thought he was going to throw up. Justin called him on it this time. He pointed out that Nathan had been fine all day. Natey got all worked up and started gagging. Justin told him to go downstairs to stand by the toilet. He did - for 45 minutes - of coarse never throwing up once.

The next two nights weren't quite as bad. Each night Natey said he didn't feel well, but went to bed without much of a fit. Then came Wednesday. Wednesday night I took Nathan up to bed. He was crying and carrying on. He didn't want to go to sleep. He worked himself up so much he started to gag. I grabbed a towel that was laying by his bed and he spit up a bit. You should have seen the look in his eyes. He'd FINALLY thrown up after all these nights of warning. Believe me, I wasn't impressed. His Grandparents were supposed to be coming for the weekend which he was super excited about. Not only did he want to see them, but he'd asked his Grandma to buy him a Jimmy Johnson (NASCAR) car while she was in Rapid City. He knew if they came - so would the car. I told him that I would have to call them and tell them they couldn't come because he was sick. He yelled "NO"!! I asked him if he was sick. He shook his head and muttered 'no'. He was on the brink of hyperventilating, so there I was in his room coaching him on breathing. "Take a deep breath in. Now slowly blow it out." Finally he calmed down and I assured him that I'd had quite enough of his behavior and ordered him to sleep which he complied.

That leads us to Thursday. Nathan was asked to clean his room over and over and was talking back. Justin had finally had it and sent him to bed at 7:30. Nathan, of coarse, fell apart. He was gagging and was working himself up like crazy. He came down numerous times to stand by the toiled and for me to 'help him breathe'. After an hour of his ridiculous behavior he was told that we would be calling his Grandma and Papa and telling them not to come because he was too sick. He yelled "I KNOW!" I told him that I was disappointed that this was his choice, but that we weren't going to allow them to come and get as sick as he was. That was just fine with him. Finally we told him that if he didn't stop the nonsense then we'd be taking his music out of his room for the night. He went upstairs and we didn't hear another word out of him.

Justin called his parents and told them about Nathan's behavior and told them they they didn't need to come. They had been concerned about the roads, so Justin said that they should just stay put. Well, of coarse Grandma got a soft spot and said she wanted to try nonetheless.

Friday at work Justin called to tell me that his parents were on their way. I didn't tell the kids that they were coming. We went about our normal routine and got supper ready after coming home from work and daycare. About 6:30 someone was at the door. I said "Who's here?" to the kids and we went to investigate. I opened the door and Nathan's face was priceless. Standing there, of coarse, were his Grandparents. He stood there speechless for at least half a minute. Finally he said "Grandma! Did you bring my car?" (sigh)

Needless to say, Natey had no problems at all going to bed while they were here. I'm not sure what he did last night because I was in bed when Justin put him to bed. I hope he's done with it. Just in case he's not, stay tuned.