Kaze o Hikan Koto Suru ne

I am doubly pissed off.

Second, it took too long to get the girls to sleep tonight. I thought that with their illnesses they would go off quickly, but it was not to be. First, Lena decided she wanted to sleep next to Amy, and I relented, after all, they slept side by side so nicely in NZ. So that delayed them. Then Lena decided to sleep without her chuppa - and how could I say No to that? Second delay begun. Then Daddy came home and they heard him come into the living room, so then it started all over again!

Of course that would not have been so annoying if I hadn't had a previous annoyance to deal with. I went to Kakize for lunch, and Baachan came in briefly and fussed over Amy and checked her for a fever and when I told her it was her asthma, she declared it was a cold. I said No, the doctor said it was asthma, but she still insisted that the asthma had started from the cold. This dates back to Saturday, when they were wearing one less layer than Baachan deemed appropriate. (The cough pre-dates this episode by about week).

Now I know that weather is the worst thing for Amy's asthma - cold biting air, and damp humid air are just as bad. As for colds, I don't know which is first - is it that the asthma predisposes her to catch colds badly, or do the colds come first and set off her asthma? Either is plausible. But the real clincher is the phrase in the title, which means "do things to not catch a cold". In Japanese there are no pronouns in the sentence, so it is not clear from the words who is to do these things, but I have always assumed they mean me. (Like make sure they have about ten layers of clothes on.)

It could also just be a set phrase, not to be taken personally, like you might say to someone in English "Don't catch a cold" as they head off out the door in the rain or something. But they say it so much!

And then when the kids do catch a cold, they say a word that kind of means, 'as I told you' 'what do you expect' like they really did actually expect me to be able to prevent every single cold, and if I had just kept the kids warm enough it wouldn't have happened. Do they really think that there are people in the world who never catch a cold, and that they did it by simply staying warm all the time? I can understand the notion of harsh weather taking a toll on your physical condition and predisposing you to succumb to the virus, but not to the idea that, therefore, all colds can be prevented by doing the opposite.

And why do they act like catching a cold is the worst thing in the world that could happen? Colds don't kill people, they don't even really debilitate you, they are just a nuisance. And EVERYONE gets them!!!!!

I could have handled it today, only they both did it - once Baachan had left, Jiichan came home, fussed over Amy, checking her for fever, worrying that she had lost weight, and then, when I reported she was having as asthma attack he also immediately declared that she actually had a cold (like that was the worse option) and...that damn phrase again.

I just packed up and left. I had been going to leave Amy there while I took Lena back for a visit. (All this while poor Lena had the actual fever and cold but no-one paid attention to her. After all, she had a jersey on on Saturday). I ended up taking Amy too, and she had another check and another nebulizer treatment, while healthy little Lena got the all-clear. Now I know why other parents just feel a fever and give the kids some panadol and forget about it. Cos you've got kids like Lena. Amy goes down, stops moving, can't eat, vomits, cries, and sleeps half the day. Lena got up to 39 yesterday and she was still acting normal. It wasn't until tiredness overtook her as well as the fever that she complained of a headache.