A Little Comfort Needed

Emma came into our room yesterday morning at a quarter to five, crawled into bed, and tortured us with kicks to the legs, which turned into kicks to the head (I seriously don't understand how she gets any sleep with all of that tossing, turning, and flipping!)
Then, after a bit of time I realized why she was there.  She was sick.  And I mean SICK!
We've been so fortunate to have very healthy kids.  We've hardly even gone through illness and this is only the second time I've had to deal with throwing-up kiddos (my theory is that I did enough of that during pregnancy for all of us!)
So here we were... a sick little girl.  I felt so badly for her.  She was such a trooper through it all though.
She couldn't keep anything down.  About mid day she was able to keep a little chamomile tea down.... about two spoonfuls every 10 minutes.  She thought her tea was such a treat compared to what she had endured all morning and early afternoon.
I mean, doesn't your heart just melt for these adorable eyes and sweet little face!?!

Please excuse the grainy photos.  These are pictures of Emma in front of the fire.... another comfort that we offered her.

Doesn't this face just scream, "I don't feel good!? 

and this little face is the trooper in her, trying to persevere

I once read on Melissa Lester's blog, "A Little Loveliness" (one of my favorites) that when she was sick her mother use to fix Welsh Rarebit to help their tummies.  It's a comfort-food, and while it may not have cured her, it let her know that we all care so much about her and are focused on getting her better.  There is nothing to make a little one's spirit better during sickness than knowing that her family is caring for her in every way they can.

Here is a great recipe for Welsh Rarebit, from Alton Brown.   When you're not making it as a comfort food for a sick little one, you can give it extra little punch and thicken it up and use it as a fondue recipe.