How things change

One of the things I feared about having a child was getting sick (and not just my phobia of vomit, although we've heard stories in that regard from friends of ours over their holiday that have given me chills). I used to catch a lot of colds, but after moving from New York to DC I started to be much more careful about washing my hands frequently and I found myself getting sick much less frequently (it probably helped not to be riding the crowded New York subway every day as well). Of course I'd still get sick from time to time, but it's amazing how much better it was when I tried to avoid contact with people who were sick and regularly washed my hands during the day.

Fast forward to the present, and all of a sudden I'm back in the germ zone again and there's no way out. Baby came down with a cold in Venice, and oddly enough I found that it's not really possible to avoid Baby when she's sick, nor does washing hands help when she is coughing and sneezing directly in your face. I can already tell that from now on we can pretty much wager on exactly when we'll catch what she's got (it took me about 5 days in this particular case). I really thought I would have to fight the desire to keep my distance, but I guess some sort of parental instinct kicked in where I actually wanted to cuddle her even when she was coughing in my face, wiping snot on my shoulder, etc. Ah, parenthood...