Thinking about the flu

October 31, 2009 by Barbara.

I’m planning to take Reid for an H1N1 shot on Sunday morning but Ken and I were also talking last night about other actions that we should be taking, like getting extra sleep and taking vitamin D, when Reid chimed in with a demonstration of how to cough into your arm. She added that we should also wash our hands a lot. I guess someone other than me is paying attention to the public health messages - and I haven’t even showed her the public service announcements featuring Elmo yet.

Ken has had a cough since Friday and it seems that Reid has finally caught it, though it’s as severe (yet - or - knock wood). She felt well enough to take advantage of the cough this morning. She couldn’t eat all of her pancake because after a couple of bites, she’d have to cough. Ditto with finishing her milk. Surprisingly enough, the cough didn’t interfere with eating cheese or lunch meat. Lucky that.

I reminded Reid that she’d have to cough into her arm during the day but that she was otherwise fine. Reid nodded then asked, “What if I have to cough during sports? What if I need to cough when I’m doing cartwheels?” Reid mimed sneezing into her arm in the middle of a carwheel and announced that she’d hold the cough until the cartwheel was done. Good plan, I thought

Next, Reid asked if I’d give her honey tea tonight if she was sick. I said that I would, if she wanted and asked where she got the idea. Reid reminded me that I’d given her tea and honey last year when she was sick. I didn’t remind *her* that she’d refused to try the tea and honey and gagged when I offered her a teaspoon of honey.

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