The weekend of PLAGUE

Wednesday, 5am: 2yr-old son wakes up and starts to shout. I go into his room to pick him up and step into a pool of cold vomit. He seems fine.

Thursday, 5:15am: 2yr-old son wakes up and starts to shout. I go into his room to pick him up and step into a pool of cold vomit. I stay home a few hours to clean up the carpet. He seems fine.

Friday, 6:10am: 2yr-old son wakes up and starts to shout. I go into his room to pick him up and turn on the light. I avoid stepping into a pool of cold vomit. 4yr-old son wakes up and starts to throw up; he throws up every half hour 'til noon. I stay home to take care of the kids. We put a towel on the carpet by the head of 2yr-old son's crib. 4yr-old son grey-green most of the day but picks up after nap time. 2yr-old son seems fine. We watch fourteen hours of television.

Saturday, 2am: 2yr-old son wakes up and starts to shout. Clara goes down and finds him in a pool of vomit within the crib. She sleeps in the rocking chair with him 'til 7am. 4yr-old son much better ("I feel MUCH better today!" he says). 2yr-old son whiny and miserable. Clara and I feel like shit and are whiny and miserable. Clara's parents take 4yr-old son for the day. I drive us all to the doctor, worried about how many things are going on right now (night vomits + bug + teething + what the hell else?); dr tells us almost certainly the same bug, but manifesting itself differently in all of us. Clara drives us home while I slump against the car window, cursing the sunlight. 2yr-old son refuses to nap so I hold him in a rocking chair for two hours while reading James Herriot. We watch sixteen hours of television and eat plain crackers dipped in filtered water.

Sunday: 2yr-old son feeling better. He has not thrown up in the night. 4yr-old son feeling even better than yesterday. Clara and I still feel like shit. We take the kids to the park in the morning. 2yr-old son naps on his own. Clara and I gradually improve through the day. We eat plain crackers with salt in the morning, plain crackers with peanut butter in the afternoon, then four pounds of leftover mac and cheese at 8pm. We watch "Office Space" and laugh weakly.

Monday, 4:45am: 2yr-old son wakes up and starts to shout but agrees to go back to sleep. 4yr-old son does the same at 5:45am.