Not Fair

Getting Lily to take medicine is an absolute nightmare. I’ve tried mixing it with chocolate syrup, paying the extra five bucks to get it flavored, crushing it into cookies, slipping it to her while she sleeps… nothing works, at least not easily. She literally needs to be pinned down to the ground and force fed, tears streaming and screaming all the while. Her white Shabby Chic bedding is tie-dyed with a rainbow of medicines, ranging from Pepto–Bismol pink to royal blue to deep purple, all the result of nighttime battles that she won. It’s terrible and my heart sinks at the first sign of an impending infection.

Ben developed a bad cough today. When we got home, Lily asked me if I should give him some medicine. I agreed and instantly she began taunting him; “Be-e-en, come get your medicine, little baby,” she sang. I could see the wheels turning in her head— here was the payback for that Lego tower he knocked over last week. Retribution for the unprovoked pinch and kick in the car. For the zebra he got at the party last week that she couldn’t go to. For the book that he got to pick out the night before… Ben was going to get it and she was going to love every last minute. Oh, the joys of being an older sister.

I called him over. Lily watched, eyes gleaming with excitement. Ben simply opened his mouth and swallowed the red syrup, proclaiming “yummy.” Shocked silence ensued from the peanut gallery. Suddenly, Lily let out a loud cough. “I think I need some too,” she whined. “Not fair.”