Friday, February 16, 2007

Bedtime drama storyboard

The scene: A suburban home, 9 pm on an icy winter evening.

The family rejoices as the Papa returns from a week out of town. After enjoying a late dinner, the children are put to bed. A few minutes later...

Hearing the children's bedroom door open, the Mama goes out to check on the kids. The little girl says in a sad voice, "Mama, I threw up." Upon investigation, Mama indeed finds that the pillow, sheet, wool mattress pad, wool sweater and wool long underwear are all casualties. She cleans up, changes sheets and jammies, and rocks the little girl back to sleep. Just as the Mama turns out the light...

Blurp! Another round. This time the Mama enlists the Papa's help, since this time the carpet and the daughter's hair are added to another set of bed linens and jammies out of the running. Much scurrying around of parents ensues, while the subdued daughter looks on. Everything is restored to normal, but then...

"Mama, I have to throw up again," the daughter says as the Mama tries to rock her to sleep a second time. The Mama nimbly transports the girl to the bathroom, where for the first time, there is no collateral damage. The girl, once finished, says she feels better, but by now is sagging with lethargy. While the Papa continues scurrying, taking laundry to the basement, the Mama tries one last time to rock the girl to sleep. This time, success.

Camera pans across the children's room to reveal: big brother quietly snoring, having slept through the entire evening's drama. Fade to: living room clock, striking 10 pm. Fade out.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The poor little darling. I hope she feels loads better today... and the rest of you, too!

Anonymous said...

Puking is horrible! And they just have such a limitless supply of it once they get going. Hope it's a 24 hour thing and that she isn't put off eating.

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor baby. Suddenly my cat's habit of throwing up every morning doesn't seem quite so distressing.

And isn't the capacity for childsleep amazing?

Hope she is much better today.

Henitsirk said...

Thanks everyone. Napoleona is much better though still not eating very much. Now I've got a different version! Sigh.