Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Manning Up

Eli 7.2 has poison ivy, which is entirely not his fault (or ours). I will reluctantly skip the flaying of the villains.

Because he has about fifteen patches of poison ivy on his arms and legs, we're big on itch cream right now. Steroidal, non-steroidal, whatever--anything that can relieve the itch for a while is being used (an over-the-counter cream called "Sarna" is the current favorite). Gloria is also giving Eli a dose of children's Benadryl before he goes to bed at night because it helps him sleep.

It's a liquid dose, though, and it does not taste good.

"Eli," Gloria called tonight, as Eli 7.2 was slowly turning the tiny plastic tumbler in his fingers, "just drink it."

"Mom!" Eli said. "It tastes like cherry poisoning!"

"Drink it fast," she said. "It's easier that way."

"No, it's not," he said. "You just get more of the poisoning faster."

"Okay, little man, here's what you need to do," I said. "Pretend you're in the woods. You're a big, rugged, tough man, and you're wearing a lumberjack shirt. You've gone into the woods to shoot deer--"

Crap. The last thing on earth Eli would want to do is shoot a deer.

"--um, with a CAMERA."

Gloria burst out laughing.

"Yes," I said, "you're going to shoot some PHOTOGRAPHS of deer, and you're really looking forward to it, but you can't do it until you drink your medicine. So just bring the hammer down and drink it in one swallow."

Gloria finally stopped laughing. "Okay, that is absolutely the worst--"

"Done!" Eli said, handing me the tiny tumbler.

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