Being Thankful

One of the many many things for which I am truly grateful as a parent is the all-round robust good health of my family. 

It is a rare event where any of us are sick and at that it is usually a cold, an annoying tickle or just generally feeling run down.

At the same time it never comes as a surprise when someone falls foul of something a little harsher than a sniffle.  It is an inevitability during life with four kids, that one or another of them will, at some stage, present with something different, something I may not have experienced before.

Over the last five months we have seen grommets, a double dose of chicken pox, an eye test, ear tests, common colds, a minor infection or two and a second boy coming down with seasonal asthma.

Nothing too serious, all targeted and treated appropriately.

Presently Lovely Liam has croup. 

Croup is an inflammation of the windpipe and voice box which results in a harsh barking cough.  It is a contagious airborne infection and very common in young children.  Breathing is noisy as a result of the inflamed airways and can be quite scary to behold.  Symptoms are very often worse at night.

Thankfully he is not too bad but will take the week off school just to be on the safe side. 

It also meant we missed our beloved Group this week.

Instead of meeting up with friends and their children, meeting new people, melting over tiny newborn babies, drinking coffee, eating nice biscuits and having a great time, I stayed at home and washed the floors.

It was during this tiresome task I found myself thinking about our health and realising how lucky we are.

That evening when we were all ensconced in our warm, comfortable home with full bellies, I decided to ask the Awesome Foursome what they were thankful for and this is what they told me.

Oldest Boy is thankful we have enough food to eat.  He is also thankful for his friends, family and cousins.  And he is very, very thankful to be alive!

Shy Boy is thankful for his toys.  He is thankful for his dog but not very thankful when she takes his stuff.   He is also thankful for his strong body because it helps him run really fast and do triple forward rolls in the swimming pool.

Smallest Boy, if he was able to communicate clearly would, I am sure, say he is thankful for his bubble lawnmower, his “sock,” his parents and his “good knife.”

Lovely Liam is thankful that his cough is almost better and the sore spot on the back of his hand is nearly better too.  He is also thankful that we had to have our car retested today because that meant we were in the same place as McDonalds and had to go there.

Oldest Boy came back with a little bit extra.  “I think we are really, really lucky because he have lots of stuff and all the stuff you said too, but I think we are not really, really, really lucky because we don’t have an x-box 360.”

And my darling boy, because I am very thankful for your interest in and ability to become absolutely absorbed in the book you are reading, if I have anything to do with it, you never will.