Ahhh!!! Chicken Pox

Well, it’s been a while since I hit this blog with anything new; in fact well over a year. No one told me having kids would take up so much of my life.

The one-year-old, Malachi, is now two, and the four-year-old, Jake, is now five and will have finished his first year of school by the time I post this.

The last 12 months have involved many sleepless nights, inclusive of a five-year-old who has not completed many nights in his own bed. 

It’s rare that I find myself waking up at 5.30am to start my day without a foot or a butt in my face, but enough about Jake. A new crisis has hit the Waldron household, chicken pox.

The compulsory illness

I’ve always wondered why every human being has to get chicken pox; I’ve always seen it as some form of initiation into the human race. 

Now, being a parent, I fully understand what my parents meant by it’s not the pox you have to worry about, it’s how it’s going to mess up your sleeping pattern.

Anyway, Malachi, the two-year-old has come down with pox. 

Still a jolly chap, despite the pox.

After messaging every person he’s recently come into contact with, including a pregnant friend of ours, who Malachi recently rubbed the belly of, operation quarantine began.

My wife, Laura, is now likely to be confined to the house for the next five days and I’ve already endured one sleepless night as Malachi woke no fewer than eight times on his first night with the pox. 

Being the awesome husband I am Laura never heard a peep, which will score me some points on the female point scoring system for men.

At first the spots were not so bad, but day two brought with it ‘the outbreak’, head to toe and in places I’d care not to mention. 

Cream is now being applied five times a day as we battle to stop the little man scratching himself to shreds.

I know it’s only pox, and I know every parent has to go through watching their kids endure them, and such is the knowledge that they’re something to get out of the way; there are even ‘pox parties’ nowadays. Blimey, I need to get in touch with the world.

However, what I can’t handle as Malachi’s dad is watching him go through this without any comprehension of what’s happening to him. 

I need to protect him and this is not an enjoyable experience for him, but I can’t do anything about it.

The itch

Then there’s me, as much as I see Malachi going through it, I now have the itch. I’ve had chicken pox, but for some reason unknown to me, I now itch all over. 

Get this though, when Malachi catches me scratching he tells me to stop it. Bless him.

As we complete day two, at 7.00pm on Wednesday 15, July, I realised that I’ve learnt something from Malachi’s pox experience, I can’t protect him from everything and sometimes my kids will have to endure things I can’t help them with.

However, as I look down at his pocked face, arms and body, he smiles at me and says ‘high five daddy.’ 

Though I’ve realised that I can’t protect my kids from everything, they’re strong enough to battle alone sometimes.

Now here’s hoping that Jake doesn’t get it. Anyway, it’s time for me to get the cream and lather the man up again.