Poor Baby!

(I had to post the first picture to make up for posting her crazy hair picture!)

Either my girl is really tough or I'm a bad mom who lives in denial. Last winter Sophia spent several days where she had a little cough but was in a decent mood throughout the day. Since she didn't act terribly sick other than the cough, we chose not to take her to the doctor (it is a $25 copay afterall!). One evening when we was putting her to bed her chest seemed more congested than it had, so we ended up taking her taking her to the ER "just to be on the safe side" (as you can imagine, our delay in taking her to the doctor cost us a $75 copay). It turned out that she had both RSV and the flu.

You would think that I would have learned. This week Sophia has had an annoying cough and a runny nose. She has taken an extra nap almost each day, but otherwise has been her normal happy self. Again, I thought that since she wasn't acting sick, she must not be sick--despite what the rattling cough suggested. Today I decided that since the cough still hasn't gone away and since the weekend is coming when the doctor's office will be closed that I should take her in "just to be on the safe side" (at least we learned to get her to the doctor's office before it closed so we didn't have to do the ER trip with the $75 copay!). Turns out Sophia has an ear infection and bronchitis. The bronchitis I understand . . . the cough was a good clue. But an ear infection?? Apparently no one explained to Sophia that if she has an ear infection she is supposed to cry and pull on her ear . . . anyone who has read a parenting magazine or book knows that! Needless to say, after having my sick baby outside running around all week, I will spend this evening cuddled in a chair with Sophia and all of her stuffed animals reading her favorite books and teaching that kid how to milk being sick.

Adding to my feelings of guilt, Sophia has in the last few days developed her compassionate side. Anytime she thinks someone might be hurt she says, "Poor baby! I'm so sorry!" We spent Wednesday in Chillicothe visiting Grandma Owens. Grandma's new puppy, Maggie, got her tail caught in the door and yelped. Sophia rushed over and offered an ever so sympathetic "Poor baby! I'm so sorry!"