A two and a half year old's cold

Well, it seems as if a cold when you're two and a half is very different to any that you might have had before this landmark age. The last cold that B. had passed without much fuss. She sneezed, she got snot on her face, she continued to jump, sing, dance, and generally get on with her life. Easy.

The two and a half year old B. is a very different kind of patient. She's been ill since last night (which was a bad one for us all), and today she's stamping around the house wailing mournfully "I've got a cold". This has sometimes been followed by a temporary return to her normal, chirpy (if somewhat hopeful) little voice, asking "can I have some medicine?"

Yes, this increased awareness of what's going on inside her body seems to have been accompanied by a sudden realisation that Calpol is great! We're not normally big medicine users and up until now we haven't had to give her much Calpol or other medicines. But this cold is making her miserable.

She's miserable about her runny nose, she's frantic about that feeling you get when you're about to sneeze, frustrated that she can't lie comfortably or suck her fingers as her nose is blocked up; in fact everything is making her cry and scream and shout. And the truth is that Calpol seems to solve many of these problems. Immediately after taking it she licks her lips and asks for more ("No".) And a little while after this, it kicks in and she's a much happier little girl.