The Jinx

(Warning: this entry involves gross things. It is all way too much information, but I thought I would share. Read at your own risk)

So, I have fallen victim to The Parenting Jinx. All you parents know what I am talking about - as soon as you say something about your child or your child's behavior, that child will jinx you and prove you wrong.

For example - if one were to say "Oh,we are so lucky because little Susie/Johnny has always been easy to put down for the night", the very next night little Susie or Johnny will be up until midnight despite all efforts to get them to sleep.

(it is interesting to note that The Jinx does not work in a positive way - if I were to say to someone "Oh, Henry has never slept past 5:30 AM", Henry will not wake at 7 AM the next day to prove me wrong. This is unfair, but how The Jinx operates. I don't make the rules.)

Anyway, most parents are well aware of The Jinx and therefore rarely if ever verbalize positive attributes of their children's behavior that they are frightened of jinxing. Alas, I forgot this rule.

So, what did I do? The other day while talking to a friend I remarked on how lucky we were that Henry will have made it to his 1st birthday without ever throwing up or having a diaper blowout (the fact that these are the things I talk about in daily conversation is another post entirely). All those extra sheets, Ultimate Crib Sheets, sheet savers, etc. that we have - they are not even out of their packaging. I had heard of all these other middle of the night sheet changes and baths, but we had not experienced it. Obviously, Henry had blessed us.

Now, what do you think happened? Yes - THE JINX. Friday night Henry has dinner, goes to bed, all is well. An hour or so after falling asleep he woke very briefly with a coughing fit, cried for about 30 seconds, and was back asleep - we didn't even need to go in.

A few hours after that as I head to bed, I check the video monitor for a last peek. Something looks funny so I have Mike look at it - yes, it appears that Henry is in the middle of a puddle. We go in....vomit. All.Over.The.Crib. And there is Henry, fast asleep in a pool of it, clutching his lovey (also covered in it), in his PJs (soaked in it) apparently not bothered at all. His entire dinner was on display for us (the child does not chew well). It was horrifying.

So, on we went to our first ever middle of the night PJ and sheet change. Henry was NOT happy - he would have preferred to to stay sleeping in it, I guess (note that Henry is apparently not sick, we think his coughing caused this incident but we have no idea)

I thought that with this, The Jinx was done. I was wrong.

This morning I went to get Henry and at first glance it seemed to he had thrown up again - SOMETHING was on the sheets. Upon closer inspection...Poop. All.Over.The.Crib. And there is Henry lying in the middle, clutching his lovey (also covered in poop), in his PJs (that the poop had soaked through) apparently not bothered at all.

So, on I went to another sheet, mattress pad, PJ change (although this one also involved a bath and subsequent bleaching of the tub). Henry was NOT pleased. In fact, while still clad in his poop soaked jammies, he kept toddling over to his book bin and bringing me books to read, then becoming very upset that instead of reading to him I was trying to clean him up.

I have learned my lesson. I will never again tempt The Jinx - let's all hope that this doesn't happen again.