Journey of 1000 colds

Some stats on the common cold: The average adult gets 2-4 colds a year, according to the NHS, while children get 3-8 colds a year. This year, I've had about 12 colds. I don't even know how many Nina's had. No doubt some of mine were just me not quite recovering from one and getting symptoms again, so virologically speaking they were probably not distinct colds, not that I care. The NHS doesn't provide me with a detailed breakdown: how many colds does the average young academic parent of a toddler have if said adult has moved recently from another continent? Hm?  And do they really fall in a statistically significant pattern after I go for a nice long run on a Sunday? I think they do. Other parents either say "nope, that hasn't happened to me at all!" (and happily, they say it, with clear voices and clear noses, and without tissue at hand; these lucky folks are more likely to be men, or to be natives of this island that stay home with their kids), or "oh yeah, I was sick for 6 months once!" or "yep. I've been sick since December" (more likely women, more likely other young working parents who have moved around a lot). Hmmmmm.  And it's Monday, which is the night of my usual Irish music gig that I try to go to, but I hardly ever do now because it's moved farther away and there's always a reason, usually to do with a cold, or being tired, or being about to get a cold... Hmph. Someone should do a study. Someone else.  

Well, it's 8:30 pm. Atypically for us, dinner has already been created and consumed, lunch for tomorrow has been packed. A. has arrived home from work and the child is on her way to bed. Because she's now 22 months old, this (finally!) doesn't involve 45 minutes of carefully singing Baby Beluga, tiptoeing out of the room hoping she doesn't notice we are leaving, or 90 minutes of breastfeeding followed by 30 minutes of attempting to put her down and then breastfeeding again ... I had this book that said "you may have to do this 4 or 5 times but your baby will learn to sleep away from the breast".  HAHAHAHA! Try, 40 or 50 times. A day. For a week or two. But yes, she did learn to sleep, and then eventually she didn't even want to breastfeed any more. This involved a very cute week when she needed to go to sleep with the breast *just* a centimeter or two away. I sure miss those baby days, and one day, we'll have another one, or at least, we'll try. But THEN how many colds will I get? Maybe I'll have some immunity by then, or I'll give up on the running, or something.