Spain Dad, a baby blog

Alleke gets a cold

Alleke lay on the changing table while I sang her a song and fastened the velcro straps on her diaper. It was early to be putting her to sleep, but she was nodding off already, fighting to keep her eyes open just long enough to moan and reach for me to pick her up.

Alleke had a cold, and had spend most of the afternoon resting her head on mom’s lap. She had rings around her eyes like red bruises, and when we put her down to play, she just sat there in the middle of her toys staring at nothing in particular.

As I lifted her from the changing table into my arms, she began to cry. She coughed, her lungs rattling, and dropped her head over my shoulder in defeat.

I walked into the bedroom and reached for the switch to turn on the light, but decided not to. This little girl was too tired for a bedtime story tonight.

Alleke chokes
I was on the couch in the living room when I heard a knock on our bedroom door. April was in the bedroom helping Alleke get to sleep, and this was our signal for telling each other when we needed help putting Alleke to sleep.

I cracked open the door and walked into the dark room. I could hear April singing a lullaby in the far corner, so I carefully felt my way across the room.

“Can you get the paracetamol?” April whispered into my ear while she rocked Allelke in her arms.

“She has a fever,” she added.

I traced my steps back to the door and left quietly. When I returned with the small bottle and syringe in my hand, the lamp was on in the room, and April and Alleke were sitting on the edge of the bed. Alleke’s eyes were closed. She was mostly asleep, but she kept trying to climb up April’s chest to get comfortable.

I pulled the liquid from the bottle into the syringe. April held Alleke’s arms while I squeezed the medicine into her mouth.

Alleke pulled away, squinted into the light, and began to cry. The red liquid oozed out of the corners of her mouth. April frowned, then kissed Alleke on the forehead and said, “It’s okay sweetie.”

April tipped Alleke’s head back, and Alleke began to cry even harder, squirming around and pulling hard at April’s arms, trying to break free.

All of us wanted to get this over with, so I put the syringe into Alleke’s mouth again and squeezed. Alleke’s crying turned to gurgling, then suddenly stopped. Her eyes went wide, and she began gasping for air. She was choking on the medicine.

April sat her up and began banging on her back. Alleke still wasn’t making a sound. She was frantic to breathe.

Something broke loose, and she heaved, water and everything else pouring into her lap. She breathed deep and began shrieking uncontrollably, refusing to be comforted. Her face was red with rage.
She stopped to vomit again, and collapsed against April’s chest, whimpering.

Alleke falls off the bed
I was again on the couch in the living room, this time with April sitting next to me, when I heard a thump. It sounded like someone in another room had slammed a door. April looked at me, then jumped off the couch.

“Oh no,” she said, “I left Alleke on the bed.”

Alleke began screaming from the bedroom, and when April flung open the bedroom door, Alleke’s crying echoed through the apartment like a police siren off the buildings in the neighborhood.

I followed April into the bedroom where she was holding Alleke in her arms. Alleke was thrashing around like a fish caught on a line and trying to push April away with her palms. She was crying with words, ones we still don’t understand, as if she were asking us why all this was happening to her, especially all in one night.

This morning I woke up to Alleke practicing her words in bed. She just sat there between me and her mom repeating the same words like a mantra until she got them right, then moved on to new ones. She was very serious about the whole business, very dedicated, especially to be up practicing at such an early hour. But when I turned over to look at her, she stopped long enough to giggle at me (and my bed head) and reach over to push the end of my nose with her pointer finger. She was thrilled to see that I was finally up and ready for the new day.

I helped her slide off the bed, and she toddled off into the living room to look for toys while I lay there for a few moments before dragging myself out of bed, slipping on a pair of jeans, and following her out into the unknowns of a new day.