Mommy Lesson Learned

On Friday two cases of swine flu were confirmed in Pitkin County, which is the county we live in and it has a mere 15,474 residents. I am not nervous of either Bryant or I catching the flu because I am confident that we can beat it pretty easily, but now that we have a little guy at home, I am much more aware of our risks of getting him sick. We carry hand sanitizer around in all of our cars and the diaper bag so we or anyone who wants to hold the baby can use it before we pick him up. Some might say this does more harm than good, and in most circumstances, I would agree, but having a baby that is already stuffy all night, every night, I can't imagine what it would be like for him to go through the flu.

I segway into a major mommy lesson learned and mistake I made on Saturday. We decided after our HOA meeting to head to Basalt for a free lunch event they were hosting to get people into the downtown core and stimulate the economy. Goal #1 was a huge success. There were thousands of people packed into a 3 block section of Midland Avenue. As Bryant, his mom and I stood in line for our free lunch, I saw a woman with a child on her back in a hiking pack. I looked at the baby and about gagged because she had huge, long drops of thick green snot coming out of her nose and her mom was totally oblivious. So, to help the poor child out, I said gently to her mom, "I just want to let you know your baby has some serious snot coming out of her nose," with the expectation that her mom would take care of it. End of story. Not the case.

The mom, without hesitation, puts a wadded up wipe into my hand and says, "don't worry, it wasn't used on her bum, just to wipe her snot." So, I calmly shoved away my animal like desire to throw the disgusting wipe back and give her a piece of my mind. I then make a swipe at her daughter's nose in a very meager attempt at relieving the child from her mucus misery all the while thinking of my little man in the stroller next to me and the germs I am undoubtedly going to pass along to him. Gross. So, I got rid of the wipe and raised my right hand as if to put it into quarantine while I dug through the diaper bag with my left hand trying desperately to find my hand sanitizer. I finally found it and poured just about the entire bottle on my contaminated hand and went into the nearest restaurant to wash my hands thoroughly. Gross. Gross. Gross. I want to throw up just thinking about that snot... and now both me and my baby have a cough, sneeze and stuffy nose...major mommy lesson learned... don't comment on the condition of another persons baby, even with the best of intentions.