I'm A Winner! I'm A Winner!

At the very least, I'm a strong contender for the "Bad Mom Award."

Colson woke up this morning whiny. The slightest thing set off a storm of tears. The tears made his throat tickly, so he would make himself cough. He cried more because his throat was hurting from the coughing. He cried because I wouldn't give him any cough medicine for his self-inflicted cough. His the tears made his throat more sore and tickly. And so he whined on and on, etc., etc.

Eventually, I sent him to his room. "If you're going to cry, you need to go cry in your room. You may join us again when you can be cheerful." When I checked on him 10 minutes later, he'd fallen asleep.

Colson woke up an hour later, crying because he'd fallen asleep and slept on his ear funny. By this point I was muy, muy irritated and told him not-so-gently-anymore to stop. with. the. whining.

By 11:00 he had fallen asleep again. Braden said, "I don't know, Mom. He seems like he's really not feeling well."

And so, I reflected on the day: Colson crying and whining for four hours. Two naps before 11:00 am. Painful ear. Something wasn't right. But he had no fever. No congestion. None of the signs that all good moms as red flags.

Despite the lack of any concrete sign of illness, we went to the doctor and I was only able to tell her, " Something's not right."

She took one look in his ear and smiled, handing me the scope. "Take a look," she said.

sigh....

Ruptured eardrum.

How did I miss a ruptured eardrum?

Colson insists his ear didn't hurt until this morning. He never had a fever or weird hearing issues. He is one tough kid!

I, on the other hand, feel terrible for not picking up on the clues Colson did give me. I just thought he was being whiny.

So step aside, ladies. I deserve it! Today, I earned this! The "Bad Mom" trophy's all mine!

Thankfully I get to start fresh tomorrow.