Like adding Mentos to Diet Coke...

Our little family of four went out for dinner tonight. Sweet Evan wolfed down his food, seemed ok. Then he put a cinnamon apple in his mouth. Clearly, he didn't like it. He just ate broccoli, but didn't like the apple??? Donald told him that was fine, but he needed to finish the one in his mouth, so like the little angel that he is, he did. Then he started this weird coughing thing. Like the annoying fake coughing kids sometimes do. And then, up from the belly came a nice bit of, well, you know. I didn't really think he was sick; I thought he just reacted badly to having to eat the apple or maybe something got stuck in just the right spot to cause the upheaval. Who knows. Amazingly, I had a spare set of clothes in his bag...which I don't usually have now that he's two, but there was this one day - never mind, 'nother story...anyway, I had clothes for him. I got him all cleaned up and all seemed fine. He ate a roll. Seemed fine.

We continued our outing with a visit to the mall. I picked up some stocking stuffers, the kids rode the Merry-Go-Round and we found sweet Ella a few outfits for church. Evan was cranky...we don't let him down to walk in the mall like we do Ella...that's cause for great angst. It was rather hot in Penney's, we were all admittedly grumpy. Other than that, it wasn't a terrible trip. Until...

We were diddy-boppin' home and Evan started his little cough again. Donald asked him if he was ok, to which he nodded yes. Then he did it again. And, like adding Mentos to Diet Coke, he exploded. A good six times, I'd say. What can you do when you're in the car and your child starts vomiting?? I was so glad to be the driver tonight...Donald was turned around watching/dealing with him. We were too far from home to let him ride all the way home covered in the mess so I stopped at a Fire Station. I went in and got some paper towels...and it was too late, but they gave me a barf bag. They asked if Evan needed medical attention, but I told them that other than losing everything he had eaten in the last two days, he had been fine. We Donald cleaned what he could, while I tried not to lose it...do you remember that he's the vomit cleaner (#9)?? Anyway, he did a fantastic job of staying calm and not puking himself. The rest of the ride home was worse than driving past a dead skunk...the smell didn't pass through, it lingered. Evan sat in silence, with his hands sort of in the air...Donald had told him NOT to touch anything. Ella kept asking why he was sick and telling us how she doesn't like to be sick, she really felt bad for him. Then, our 3 3/4 year old and our just-over-two year old had the following conversation:

Ella: Evan, what made you sick?
Evan: I not sure.
Ella: Was it your food? Did the food do it?
Evan: I not sure. I guess so.

Smart, I tell ya.

Evan got a bath - and so did the inside of my van, thanks to my vomit-cleaning husband.

Evan appears to be fine for now.

Is there anything worse than having a sick child?

Vomiting is violent. I'm against this sort of violence. I hear by boycott vomiting.

No vomiting allowed.