- Douglas Adams
Conventional wisdom dictates that the appropriate receptacle in which to store vomit is a toilet bowl, bucket, or perhaps even a bag. In the Hughes household however we fly in the face of convention and, when the urge to hurl becomes too much, our children choose to spew into the folds of the nearest available towel.
I’m not sure how or why this practice evolved. It was most likely when Amy was a baby and we grabbed the nearest thing to hand. Whatever the reason it appears to be firmly engraved in Amy’s psyche and whenever she feels nauseous she will invariably make a break for the towel rack rather than the toilet.
This isn’t really a problem. Towels are absorbent; easily washable; and, due to the chaotic nature of our housekeeping, easily located in the middle of the floor of nearly every room. The only problem I can foresee is Amy possibly causing social embarrassment if she suddenly feels sick while she’s on the beach, at the swimming pool, or …err… in a towel factory.
We’re getting through a fair few towels at the moment. For the last week or so Evan has been feeling under the weather and has had the tendency to throw up immediately after eating anything (particularly in the morning).
While this has been pretty wearing (and has forced me to change my vomit covered clothes more frequently than my customary monthly shirt rotation), we are not particularly concerned about his health. It’s just a virus he probably picked up at nursery. In fact, if Amy is anything to go by, Evan will never be completely free of disease again. He will have an ever present gooey eye, snotty nose or raspy throat that he has caught from some other lurgy inflicted child. He will remain this way until the day he decides to shun all human contact and choose a rewarding career in the hermit industry.
Until then, we’ll always have a towel handy.
“Still there’s one thing about being a hermit; at least you meet people…Oh yes, I’d never go back to public relations.” -
Monty Python Hermit Sketch
Those Monty Python boys; they have a sketch for all occasions.
I think we have the same housekeeper.
I made the mistake of letting my son wipe his nose on my shirt one day. It was dirty and I was about to take it off anyway, and he had this snot all over the place… anyway, whenever he sneezes now he just comes to me and wipes his nose on my back or arm.
I need to quit doing that in front of him.
PMSL at the towels Dan. Eve and Lydia had gastroenteritis this week and yes, those towels came in very handy – especially as it was a double-ended problem…Trying to get a seven-month old (or indeed a three year old) to aim into a bucket is no mean feat – best let the towel do the work. The only problem was we were on holiday for our bout of sickness and diarrhoea, so there were some hasty teatowel/mummy’s top/bed sheet improvisational moments. The girls are fine now, but the washing machine at the holiday cottage has probably died from overuse.
Ah, the joy of childhood illnesses.
Interesting how such a thing has developed. Its perhaps a habit best to be rectified otherwise i think i would have a mental block on using a towel for anything around my home knowing it had been vomited on by a child.
Good post. Thanks
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