I leaned down and pressed my lips on his forehead to see if he had a fever. My mom used to do this when I was little and she’d tell her patients’ moms that, “you need a thermometer to find out what a child’s temperature is, but you can get a feel if he has a fever or not by kissing him on the forehead. Plus, it makes them feel better if you kiss them.” His forehead was cool to the touch, so he didn’t have a fever. “I bet you’re a bit dehydrated.” I said, “We really didn’t drink enough today. I’ll get you some Advil and some pedialyte and you’ll be better in no time.”
“I’ll wet the bed if I drink now,” he whispered.
“You’ll wet anyway,” I whispered back.
“Yeah, I’ll wet anyway,” he giggled.
I went to the fridge and got the pedialyte and then into the cabinet in the desk where Terri kept the over the counter meds. I dropped down on the couch next to Kevin and said, “Let’s sit up pal.” He sat up and I put my arm over his shoulder. I gave him the Children’s Advil and the bottle of pedialyte. We sat together for a while as he drank. I flipped on the TV and found the Disney Channel. We watched an episode of Phineas and Ferb which we both were laughing at.
He snuggled into me as we watched and I noticed that when he finished his drink he dropped the bottle and began sucking his thumb. Slowly he nodded off again. The shirt will have to wait until morning. I didn’t think the diaper would survive another wetting. I delicately picked Kevin up and walked upstairs with him and put him on his bed. As I have done before, I slipped the pad under him and undid his diaper. I got him cleaned and changed and tucked into bed without waking him up. (Maybe the Advil helped.) I went downstairs and started the laundry. Then I grabbed Emmett and brought him to Kevin’s room. I slipped him under Kevin’s arm, kissed him (Kevin, not Emmett) and went into my own room for a good night’s sleep. Then I had a thought and before I climbed into bed, I went online and ordered some supplies from the pharmacy to be delivered first thing in the morning.
The next morning, I got up as usual, went for a jog on Terri’s treadmill, took advantage of the whirlpool in Terri’s bathroom and got dressed. Today was going to be a day around the house, so I put on my swimsuit as underwear, a pair of Keds, my white yoga pants (I’m like Terri, I don’t do yoga, but the accessories are really useful) and a tee-shirt. I Pulled my hair back into a pony tail and slipped scrunchy on it. I sat down in the kitchen with a cup of fresh brewed French roast coffee and waited for the delivery to come. 9:30, right on time, the doorbell rang and the delivery boy dropped off two discretely wrapped packages which I quickly unwrapped. When I was all set, I went to look in on my little friend.
He was lying on his tummy with his diapered bottom up in the air. His thumb was in his mouth and there was drool on his pillow. I took out my Iphone and snapped a quick picture and sent it to Terri. I got a reply almost immediately, just five digits long. “Aww!!” and then about a minute later, “That’s my boy. Such a cutie. Look in the baby book in the den. There’s a pic just like it from when he was 2.” I figured I could do that later.