The Joys of Snot

Last year Finn and I managed to escape cold and flu season relatively unscathed, due, no doubted,  to the fact that our grand total of excursions outside the house was our weekly groceries. This year, however we are not so lucky. It is only September and Finn has managed to contract a cold already. I suppose all the dirt eating hasn't worked as well as I had hoped (see the Truth about dirt). It is astounding the shear quantity of snot his tiny button nose can produce. No kleenex can keep pace. No matter what I do there always seems to be two long trails running down his face, or my personal favourite, the snot bubble. The giant billboard warning other parents to keep their children as far away from mine as possible. Snot just seems to be everywhere, in his food (or mine as he takes a bite), on his hands (which then go in his mouth), even on my sleeve (what can I say, there were no kleenex handy). And if a stuffy nose weren't bad enough, the only way my son has to sooth himself is by sucking his thumb, which is made impossibly difficult with a plugged nose. I am a big fan of saline nose sprays to try and loosen things up. Finn though is decidedly against them. Anyone who is walking down the street while I attempt to administer the spray is undoubtedly imagining the horrors I am inflicting on my child as his shrill screams fill the house. So in the end, all we really can do is suck it up, brave through a few sleepless nights and, well, a good dose of Tylenol never hurt anyone (or whiskey, we'll see how things go).