The Easter "Swallows"

Saturday night. About 12:29AM.
"Mommy!"
"What?"
"Turn my stars on!" Evie has a turtle night light that turns itself off after 30 minutes. We keep it up high on a shelf where only we can turn out when she goes to sleep. I reluctantly roll over.. walk on over and flip on the lights.

Its now just after 1AM and I am awoken by noises. I hear verbal sounds that Evie's making, but I can't make it out. "Evie!" I yell, "What are you doing?"
"I'm swallowing!" she yells back.
Now, back-story time, Evie sucked down a Hersey's strawberry milk box & container of goldfish right after we got in the car en route for Ohio last July. I brought these treats to snack on within the next 2 hours (right before she was to fall asleep for our night-time drive) but she saw them and insisted on having them. She had just eaten a very filling dinner. Twenty minutes into the drive she upchucked all over herself. Fortunately, the car seat caught all of it... like a bucket. Unfortunately she was now sitting in it... absorbing it all and completely freaked-out. We cleaned up at the nearest truck stop and decided to end the road trip... we went back home for the night (the smell was unbearable just 5 minutes later... there's no way any of us would have survived a 9hr car ride). Evie referred to all of this as "swallowing" since that's what she was doing before, well, she threw-up! I tried to explain it all to her but the term "swallowing" has stuck ever since.

I jump out of bed and yell at Rob to follow me.
I grab Evie just under her arms (she is sitting prone and throwing up atop her comforter). I carry/walk her to the bathroom and she promptly pukes in the toilet (holding the handles of her little potty seat which is still in position on the toilet. Its both cute and horribly sad at the same time).
"I'm done." she says standing up. I coax her to sit down on her step stool. I fix up a warm wash cloth and wipe of her face. I teach her how to rinse out her mouth with some water and we walk together back to bed. I thought I had caught her in time but the site of Rob standing amongst soiled bed linens reveals how wrong I am. Evie and I sit on the edge of the bed... she is ghastly pale... I pull her into my and she doesn't resist. Poor thing.

We only had to whisk away a bed pad (for night-time potty training) and the comforter so, the clean-up wasn't too bad. We laid Evie back down and covered her up while Rob explained why he was putting her trash can on the floor next to her. Evie was as calm and collected as can be (frankly, it was both awesome she was handling this all so well and slightly unnerving that a kid just under 4 years old remained so collected about such a yucky hing to experience!).
I tell Evie that I don't think she'll need the bucket (I don't want her to panic about it being there and work herself up over nothing) and she nodded OK... and smiled.

We go to bed. Rob starts to drift off... I have my mom ears on. I wake up when I hear scuffling about 30 minutes later. I race into her room and Rob's close on my heels. I find Evie hunched over the edge of the bed with her face over the trash can. Poor thing is vomiting so forcibly that she's straining and coughing. Whatever was in her stomach is really getting the boot at this point. Rob hits the lights and Evie stops... tears down her face. I tell Rob to get a washcloth and I wipe her up. We go to the bathroom and rinse out her mouth... we go back to bed. I stroke her hair and she looks up at me proud as can be, "I didn't get any on my nightgown!" Man, this girl is brave.
I turn out the light and tell Evie I think she's done for the night and I really do believe this... but I still take ashort while to fall back to sleep.

Another 30 minutes later and I was in a light doze when I hear Evie scuffle again.
Rob's out cold.
I jump out of bed again and yell at Rob to follow me. I find Evie is laying flat-out on her belly with her hands on the edge of the trash can... face completely down in the can. I hold her hair back ( a little too late... but it was clean-up-able). Its not very much at all and this has got to be the final sicktime tonight. Evie sits up and asks for water. She rinses and spits in the can before taking a small sip. She lays back and again is very proud of herself for doing a good job (as well as she should be!) I mop up her hair with the cloth and pin her hair back just in case we have a 4th event.
I shower Evie with accolades - seriously, what a brave & big girl to be handling this all like a champ - and we say good night.

8AM and Evie wakes up. She slept in for an extra hour (thank goodness, we all needed that extra time).
"Mommy! There's something on the table!"
The Easter Bunny left a huge basket of treats: princess socks, princess tooth brushes, head bands, skittles, gummy bunnies, nerds candies, a small Rapunzel doll, a big chocolate bunny and a few candy-filled plastic eggs. SCORE.

Easter day is spent running errands with mom (she was a GEM at the grocery store playing with her new doll)... I am amazed what a trooper this kid is. I take Evie's temp mid-day and she is running around 100.4 but is keeping up with everything just fine.... so we all 3 go to DSW (I had free money for a birthday gift that expired today!), World Market ($10 birthday coupon that expires today!) and Tom Leonards (dinner supplies!) before heading home around 3:30PM. We read 2 stories with popsicles in hand and we ALL crash out for about an hour long nap.

Too bad the night leading up to today was rough ...but today... was great.