Wise Yet Not
Erik seems to be coming down with a cold, which is pretty unusual. The kid has an immune system to beat all immune systems *knock on wood about a million times* and very rarely gets sick. Eight years old, three sick doctor visits in his life. And it’s not that I’m anti-doctor. Sometimes I feel like dear Elsa lives at the doctor, though she hasn’t had a sick visit since the summer celluitis where we ended up in the ER to make sure her eyeball wasn’t going to fall out. The boy is just never sick.
I got him to take some sambucus (miracle cure, I swear by it) but he was not happy with me. “You know mom, I’m eight years old and I think I can just handle having a cold without you telling me to take medicine. If I want to be sick, that’s my choice. I know I’ll be over it in a day” [which is probably true, his colds are always miniscule].
And then while we were reading he kept wiping at his eyes. I know they were itchy because they are always itchy. I have tried to teach him my trick (because my eyes are also always itchy) of wetting a bit of toilet paper and cleaning them out, but he refuses to do so. Instead he wipes them with his fingers which doesn’t help at all and actually causes the skin around his eyes to get red and dry. It looks very painful, so I have to sneak in is room at night at daub olive oil on his eyes. That’s the only why I’ve found to keep him from looking like some kind of vampire creature. The things you never thought you’d do before having kids. Oiling up someone’s eyes was never on my radar.
Anyway, my suggestion was met with the following statement, “You know mom, I think you should just stop worrying about my body and let me handle it. If I want itchy eyes that’s my choice. You need to find something else to worry about. And don’t worry about my sickness either.”
Part of my brain is going “yay! Independence” but the stronger part of my brain is going “kid! I am your mother! Listen to me because mother knows best!”
I swear I don’t know what to do with this kid sometimes. He is wise beyond his years, but still very much a child.