Tuesday, May 6, 2014

It's a Magnet on My Tongue

It's been decades since the east coast has seen an allergy season like this one.  Blame it on the crazy winter or climate change or the newly-minted phrase climate disruption, but pollen is everywhere, and along with it the mandatory sneezing, coughing and itchy eyes.  Our little guy is suffering the worst of it.  He's had more Zyrtec in the last six days then he has in the previous six years.  We just can't help but look at those puffy, red and swollen eyes and reach for the bottle that offers better living through chemistry.  If we don't, it only gets worse and he starts complaining about itchy ears too.

Unfortunately, one evening last week the bottle of liquid Zyrtec alluded us.  Romi was off to bed, but he was truly miserable.  We looked for the magic elixir but when we couldn't find it we asked the Romster if was game for swallowing a pill.  Not surprisingly our six-year-old adult in kindergarten clothing was up for it.

We took the small white oblong pill out of the bottle and explained the procedure: place it in the middle of your tongue so you can't taste it, take a sip of water, swallow both while leaning your head back if necessary.  I put the pill on his little tongue, handed him the glass and watched him swallow, after which he stuck out his tongue to proudly display the little white pill.  Rob tried next, following the same procedure--with the same result.  Rob then resorted to his dog tricks, throwing it down the back of Romi's throat like he does with Penny.  At this point, Romi took the pill out of his mouth and explained that he didn't care for the taste.  No big surprise there.  We tried again, and again the pill made an appearance.  Rob kept explaining, "How is this possible?!"  Romi kept calmly replying, "It's a magnet stuck to my tongue."

In a bout of hilarious frustration, Rob put the pill on Romi's tongue and had him drink the entire glass of water, after which Romi pulled the pill from his mouth and handed it tback to Rob. 

Next Rob refilled the water glss, dropped the pill in, swooshed it around and had Romi drink the entire thing.  After which Romi once again produced the little white beast and explained that it wasn't his favorite. 

I'm honestly not sure which was more hysterical to watch, Romi's party trick, his calm manner in returning the pill time and time again to his Abba, or Rob's incredulous freak out every time the little white pill reappeared.

In the end, neithber Romi's allergies or the pill disappeared, but the good news is we finally found the bottle of liquid Zyrtec!