We had a slow week around here, waiting for colds to abate so life could return to normal. It started with Addy, who shared her germs with me. About the time we were both improving, husband caught it. There are some lingering coughs, but otherwise it’s back to business as usual!

It never ceases to amaze me how active a sick toddler can be. On my worst day of this cold, all I wanted to do was sit on the couch with a box of tissues and stare at the wall. Addy’s energy seemed immune to the effects of a cold. If it weren’t for other obvious signs, I wouldn’t have thought she was sick at all!

The first clue is that constantly-running nose! Which leads to wet spots on her shirt, if I don’t get a wipe in time. Perhaps the most amazing thing about a toddler with a cold is that her overall expression has the same glazed, lethargic look as I do when sick. She can’t possibly feel well! And yet she runs laps around the house as if she were training for the Olympic 100-meter dash.

PJ’s all day is a given during illness, though is perhaps more a sign of mom being sick than the toddler. Addy would just as soon not wear anything ever.

After days of all that nose-wiping, it’s sure to turn red. I apply copious amounts of lanolin to help keep it from getting too chapped and dried out. As long as I pretend to apply it to myself first, Addy is all about getting some too. She loves doing what everyone else is doing!

My favorite aspect of a sick toddler is how cuddly she becomes. Usually she is bouncing from one activity to the next, climbing on anything she can, running after whatever catches her eye. I know she is sick if she will pause, ask to be picked up, and just snuggle for a few moments.

Now that the household is mostly recovered, I have been trying out some new experiments! I have wool covers in the works. I am really excited to get these perfected for moms who love wool and for babies who are rash-prone! I have also been fiddling with my front-snapping pattern, just to see if there is something else I like better than what I am currently doing. So far, what I’ve been doing is still my favorite, but I have a couple more ideas to try before I am satisfied.

How do you know your little one is coming down with something?