Daddy Penguin

Poor little Skeets has been so sick. It's going on almost 7 days now and she is still under the weather. She's had some kind of cold that has overtaken her little body. But in true Skeetie fashion, she is a little trooper and continues to say Fwow, only with a stuffy nose its pronounced: "Rr-ow" (short o)

Last Wednesday George took one look at her and told me when I got home from work that Bea had "sick eyes." That she did. On Friday, 12/22 she started getting a fever and by Sat, Christmas Eve, she had high fever, was lethargic, with a terrible & scary cough. She spent the remainder of the Christmas weekend a little sickie. Too sick to get into her 3 different Christmas Couture wardrobes I'd planned - one for Christmas Eve day; one for midnight mass; one for Christmas day. Instead, she wore her fleece pjs, wrapped in her blanket from Grandma Mary. She's down from 23 lbs to a scant 22 lbs.

Now, to the point of this blog. Two weeks ago George & I rented "The March of the Penguins." I marveled at how the male penguins took care of the egg during the 2 mo incubation while the mother penguin goes into the sea and stockpiles food for the little penguino upon hatching. Not only does this seem a natural anomoly, but it was astounding the great care the male penguins used when caring for the egg. In one scene an egg is broken and the male penguin just stood there looking at it in utter disbelief, then grieved the broken egg. The daddy penguins have an innate sense of mothering. Well, such is the case with my husband, Bea's daddy.

All last weekend, he took such great and delicate care of Skeetie. He wrapped her in a blanket and she slept for 2 hours on his chest. He cuddled her, he cared for her, he took hot, steamy, mentholated-showers with her and he said it tore him apart to see her this sick. He was Daddy Penguin. Sure Skeetie slept on my chest every night too (recall she slept there the first 3.5 mo of her life, so when she's sick, that's her default comfort spot) but there is something particularly special about seeing her dad "mothering" her. Skeetie all comfy and tucked in on his chest. Daddy Penguin.

This sums it up: this morning I was getting ready for work and Bea was still feeling crappy. She'd been crying all morning and nothing was soothing her. So George went to the kitchen and made Bea her favorite breakfast, scrams (scrambled eggs). I peek down the hall and there sat Bea & Dad, having breakfast by candlelight.

Here she is have a warm beer & cold burger with her Daddy at the Mo Club:














I must also note that Oliver has been a great help too. Ollie has dutifully shared his toys with Bea and has taken up residence next to the misty (the humidifier) to keep Bea company. Actually, Oliver puts his face right in the blowing mist so that he looks like an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Our Lady of the Frau.













Every Day is a BEA-utiful Day.