It’s midnight, and thankfully she is in my arms, throwing up on my clothes and her clothes–and unfortunately, on Blue Bear–but NOT in her bed! This means I don’t have to change her sheets and blankets, so I am thankful.
But she begins to cry. “Spit-up!” she says wearily through her feverish tears. “Spit-up–mommy’s shirt!”
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I say. “Mommy can put on clean clothes.”
Daddy changes Mara’s diaper and puts on new PJs, while Mommy cleans vomit off the bedroom floor and throws Blue Bear into the pile that is going in the washing machine.
When we finally lay her back down in her crib, she looks up again through her tears, asking, “Blue Bear? Blue Bear?”
“Blue Bear has throw-up all over him,” I explain. “Blue Bear has to be washed.”
“Blue Bear–new clothes!” Mara insists. In her mind, it’s that simple: we change Blue Bear’s clothes, just like we changed Mara’s and Mommy’s clothes! . . . but it’s NOT that simple. So there are many tears between midnight and 2:15 a.m. when Blue Bear comes out of the laundry all clean!!
Then all is well again, and Mara sleeps till almost 8:30.
So sweet & tender!