A cold virus has descended on the Donner Household.

Under normal circumstances, this would be tiresome. But now that August is here it becomes a small-scale tragedy — for August and mummy alike.

In the old days before August, when I got a cold, I might have frittered away the afternoon on the couch, working my way through a heap of books and magazines, sipping hot teas, with two cats curled up at my feet. There was almost a guilty pleasure in holing up, sick. But those simple pleasures are long gone.

Now all my energy is consumed in babying my little monster who, sadly, shares my snotty nose. And really there is nothing sadder than a tiny little boy with snuffly nostrils. Especially since he can’t partake in our home remedies — ginger tea, salt gargles and the like.

Earlier today we had to employ the nose sucker which we nickname the elephant trunk to make it more appealing to August. Truth is, August couldn’t care two jots about the cute euphemism. He is just wondering why we are sticking blue plastic vacuum-y, suction-y pipes up his nose holes. I think he’d like us to stop. But the truth is, he feels so much better after an unclogging.

August is more squawky than usual with pink-rimmed eyes. It’s pathetic. His mum isn’t much better. We make quite the sorry pair. On the other hand, baby’s first cold is not as bad as I’d anticipated. Yes, I was fearing the very worst.

Tags: Health