"Mommy, I'm Sick."

Earlier last month, Helios climbed into bed with Mommy and Daddy. While Mommy appreciated the extra warmth (it's now June and she's still waiting for summer), Helios was clearly burning up. With a plaintive little cry he whimpered, "Mommy, I'm sick."

When these little boys are sick, it is extremely difficult for Mommy and Daddy to tell. They rarely run fevers and even less tell-tale physical signs like red ears and skin splotches are noticeably missing. If they appear even the slightest bit cranky, generally a train or some popcorn does the trick and they're happy as clams. (Why are clams so happy? Are they even sentient beings? Don't they know they're going to be eaten?) In fact, they often can have raging ear or sinus infections and we won't know until they are thoroughly miserable, days after the infection has set in. There are few early warning signs. So, when Helios came in pleading illness, we figured it was legit.

Mommy took Helios to the doctor that day and imagine her surprise when, a couple of x-rays later, we learned he had bacterial pneumonia! Oops. We missed that one. So, Helios came home and, for the next few days, in between spurts of energetic activity, he rested on the couch with two fleece blankets, both made by Grandma Jane, and a heating pad while watching episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine and Signing Time. The rest (plus the heavy-duty anti-biotic) must have done the trick -- within three days, he was torturing Hesperos again and arguing over who got to play with the trains.