"Hurting me"

After what was a welcome long time, he fell sick two weeks ago. He manages to catch a cold even before the existing one leaves him, what with the childcare and the seasonal changes. The constantly blocked/running nose led to an ear infection. He didn't develop any fever so we didn't see it coming. He has either never had such a severe one or he didn't know how to express pain before, but all three of us had an almost sleepless night on that ocassion. When he complained "hurting me" pointing to his right ear I couldn't at first decide if he was crying from the pain or if it was a sympathy cry. He doesn't usually demand attention for the sake of it unless he is in pain, so we decided to give him a dose of Nurofen. That definitely calmed him down as he understands the concept of medicine and is always willing to gulp down the entire bottle if only he could. We thought that should give him a good night's sleep but he kept waking abruptly through out the night crying for pain. I had worked late that night and slept only at 2am and he pretty much kept me awake since then. At about 5am Praveen decided to try a bottle of milk and that thankfully helped all of us sleep. The next morning, the doctor decided the middle ear was sore enough to call for antibiotics straight away. Pranav was of course only too happy to go on "white mandu" and insisted every time on taking it himself.
He developed a fever through the rest of the day but you would have had to swear ten times that he was unwell. I think he gets that from his father: he continues on in his own vein even when he is considerably warm to the touch. All the jumping, playing and much to my peace of mind, feeding too. So far I can only remember one ocassion when his sickness really affected him behaviourally and that was when he was 9 months old and had his first ear infection. I remember I was very concerned then as that was the first time for all three of us. He had the most pitiable expression on his face for two days to go with his high fever. I am glad he didn't take on me here; I am such a pathetic, self-pitying moaner when I am sick.