Now that Nat is healthy as a horse and back to her rambunctious old self, the outbreak has spread to her baby brother, the nanny and worst of all, Mommy.

Poor little Ollie has been miserable for the past 2 days. He has no fever (thank goodness!), but has a very runny nose, a bad cough and I imagine a headache as well.

That’s one of the worst thinks when a baby is sick – they cant tell you how they feel, so one can only guess. He’s on my lap now as I type this – making little whiny sounds in between coughs and just looking plain miserable.

Speaking of miserable, did I mention how I hate being ill? Mommies are really not made to be ill (at least when the kids are young) for obvious reasons – who would look after everyone else?

Even if I’m lucky enough to have staff, when my kids are ill, they want nobody else but Mommy. The nannies get yelled at, Daddy get shunned….its only Mommy who must do everything for them.

Not that I mind really, I remember what it was like being a kid and sick – nobody but Mommy could make feel better. But what is awful now is that all this closeness has made the virus now camp out chez Mom’s.

When I was little my Mom always cooked her special chicken soup (mashed up the way I liked it) and brought me presents when I was sick - it was always the same. Paper dolls and a new nightgown. Something I’ve always remembered fondly.

And you can guess that the same tradition is now passed to my kids.

As we got a little older, my sister and I became voracious readers. One of our favourite places in the world was the Foyles bookshop in London, where we would spend hours on end choosing and reading books. The library near the Edgware Road was also a weekly treat. After a whole afternoon choosing books, we would pass by the local bakery for some delicious “air” bread to take home for tea. It truly was the stuff of childhood memories!

Anyway, the all-of-a-kind family was another series we re-read over and over again. For two girls growing up in the late seventies, there was a strange fascination with this turn-of-the-century family in America. Who can resist the characters - sensible Ella, the eldest girl, spunky Henny with her perfect curls, the little sisters and of course Mama and Papa who had very little money but a lot of morals- and love!

Written by Sydney Taylor, The all-of-a-kind family comprised 5 sisters (who were Jewish), growing up in New York’s Lower East Side. Simple joys, simple activities, ah the simple life in those days!

All-of-a-Kind Family (1951) is the first book of a series. Other books in the series include
More All-of-a-Kind Family (1954), All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown (1957), All-of-a-Kind Family Down-town (1972), and Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family (1978).

My copies all seem to be gone now (Mom! where have they gone?), but I can’t wait until the day I can introduce them to my daughter.

Another favourite book of my sister and I growing up were of Babar the elephant who lived with his tres charmant famille in Celesteville. On our first trip to Paris, my sister had a rather large stuffed toy of him which she took to the top of the Eiffel tower, just like in the story - needless to say it was the highlight of our trip and a very fond memory for both of us.

Here are some Babar facts:

With over 100 licensees worldwide, the Babar brand has a multi-generational following. There are even 12 dedicated Babar stores in Japan.

Babar has eight points to his crown.

A global cultural phenomenon, whose fans span generations, Babar stands along side Mickey as one of the most recognized children’s characters in the world.

Babar made his debut in “The Story of Babar” published in 1931 by Jean de Brunhoff. Jean created and illustrated seven Babar titles before dying in 1937. Laurent de Brunhoff, son of Jean, continues his father’s work and is still writing Babar books.

In 2006 Babar will celebrate being King of The Elephants for 75 years.

There are now over 30,000 Babar publications in over 17 languages, and over 8 million books have been sold. Laurent de Brunhoff’s Babar’s Yoga for Elephants is a top seller in the U.S with over 100,000 copies sold to date. The Babar series of books are recommended reading on First Lady Laura Bush’s national reading initiative list. Babar has been a perennial favorite for years at the White House Easter Egg Roll.

I spent quite a few years of my childhood in England, and one of my most cherished books from the time are the Topsy and Tim books by Jean and Gareth Adamson. I’m not sure of it was the simple, colourful illustrations or the storylines which were pretty ordinary but interesting at the same time. Whatever it was, its held its magic for the past 20-odd years as my old dog-eared copies are among my 4 year-old’s favourites.

Today most childrens books and indeed, toys, are based on the commercialised marketing of big names - like Thomas the Tank Engine, Barney, Barbie and so on. Yes, my kids love those two, but the magic of two ordinary kids undoubtedly have a special pull of their own.

The Topsy and Tim books were written by Cambridgeshire author Jean Adamson, and her late husband Gareth and first published in 1960.

Jean, now 74, believed that children created there own magic and that the decision to make them twins was so the boy and the girl could have “an equal place”.

“We don’t need magic because all the world is magic to children.
…Let’s do something for the modern world with real-life children’.”

As the series developed Gareth and Jean’s three children influenced and Jean would see how the children reacted to situations which were mirrored in the book.

“When we started we didn’t have any children and then we had our own three children in quick succession and the children almost wrote the books for us,” she said.

Since it was first published in 1960, more than 130 Topsy and Tim titles have been published with sales of over 21 million copies.

New editions was released in 2003, and although my daughter loves them just the same, I definitely miss the wonderful illustrations of the old editions.

Nat now seems to be recovering, and the phlegmy cough is at least far less scary that the high fever she had yesterday.

While doing research though I stumbled upon an article which may be interesting for any Moms out there experiencing the same thing (new moms - dont worry you will!). I’ve condensed it.

Fever in Children by Len Leshin, MD, FAAP.

Fever is the body’s reaction to infection. Through mechanisms that aren’t known well, some aspect of infection and/or inflammation causes the brain to reset its “thermostat.” There are many theories for why this happens, including the idea that most germs can’t replicate well at higher body temperatures and that some parts of the immune system works better at higher temperatures. When the body has reset its thermostat, any temperature below that is considered by the body to be cold; so if the thermostat has been reset to 104 F, a temperature of 102 F will actually seem cold, and the body starts shivering to increase body heat: that’s why we get “chills.”

While fever is considered a rise in body temperature, not everyone’s body temperature is the same. The common average cited is 98.6 F (37.0 C), but your actual “normal” temperature may vary. Regardless, in infants and small children, fever is regarded as anything 100 F (37.8 C) or higher; in school-aged children and above, 99.3 F (37.4 C) or higher.

Here’s the important point: Fever is NOT dangerous! The amount of temperature required to hurt the human brain is over 107.6 F (42 C). Fever due to infection very rarely goes over 106.2 (41.3 C), and while scary to parents, is not harmful. (Temperatures over 107.6 F are usually due to heatstroke, head trauma, toxic ingestions or anesthesia side effects.) Seizures due to fever can occur in the age range of 4 months to 6 years, but is most often associated with an abrupt rise in temperature, rather than an extremely high fever. And while seizures due to fever are frightening, they are short (less than 5 minutes) and are very rarely harmful to the child’s brain.

Important note: while fever is not dangerous, it is a sign of infection, and there are some infections that are dangerous to children. How high the fever gets may not tell you how dangerous the infection may be. Infants 3 months of age and younger may not show serious signs of infection until it is too late, so these infants should always be seen by a doctor when febrile. For older infants and children, they should be seen by a doctor or other health care provider if you feel the symptoms may indicate that your child may have a serious infection, or if you are unsure if your child’s symptoms are serious or not.

My daughter’s fever had settled by the evening, and after her last big bowl of soup and rice and some ice cream (it was homemade!), I thought the worse was over and gave her a dose of paracetamol before bedtime for good measure.

But like most monsters, it wasnt. At nearly 2. am that night, the big scary fever monster struck one more, and my daughter was boiling with a fever of 39.6 degrees. After a hurried dosage of ibuprophen, she started coughing and promptly vomited in bed. Soupy rice, ice cream remnants and yes, ibuprohen. Oh dear.

After another dose of meds (this is what sucks about being mommy-doctor, you have to make a call on the right second dosage after puking and hope for the best), clean sheets and a story, we settled in for the night - but it was 3 am already! (explains my dire need for coffee today)

The next morning the fever came back by lunchtime, a much less aggressive monster to the tune of 38.4. After more Calpol, and even more of the Disney channel, by 4pm she heard her baby brother outside plaing with the neighborhood kids and pleaded to go outside.

I was apprehensive, but Daddy thought that “fresh air will do her good” (how typical!), so out she went, like nothing happened at all - albeit some coughing my Mommy-bionic-ears could hear from the kitchen.

Aren’t children such a miracle?

Although I am a Mother of 2, no matter how many times one of my kids get a fever, it always still goes like this.

1. I semi-panic,
2. Give parecetamol
3. Call the doctor
4. Make a special soup dish
5. Get the DVD’s ready and spoil them to death.

Well today my 4-year old woke up with a real scorcher. 39.1 degrees. And the weird thing was she was outside playing all day yesterday, wolfed down 2 bowls of pasta for dinner with nary a symptom. And today she woke up burning and with all sorts of owies (and license for Mommy to attend to her bidding).

After paracetamol and more ibuprofen, she’s now happily watching the Grinch and although still definitely not fit to go to school, she’s snatching her little brother’s Barney book away from him again, so things have normalized somewhat.

Just in case, here are some useful fever reminders:

* Give your child plenty to drink to prevent dehydration (not enough fluid in the body) and help the body cool itself.
* Keep your child still and quiet.
* Keep the room temperature at about 70°F to 74°F.
* Dress your child in light cotton pajamas so that body heat can escape.
* If your child is chilled, put on an extra blanket but remove it when the chills stop.

Tips on giving medicine

* Don’t give more than 5 doses in 1 day.
* Don’t give a baby younger than 4 months old medicine unless your family doctor tells you to.
* Read labels carefully. Make sure you are giving your child the right amount of medicine.
* If using drops, fill the dropper to the line.
* For liquid elixir, use a liquid measuring device to make sure you give the right dose. Get one at your drug store or ask your pharmacist.

Mary Poppins tidying up the nursery with the kids singing gaily along as everything magically organizes itself may be the stuff of parenting fantasies, but getting the kids seemingly massive collection of toys from warzone to neat can actually be accomplished.

Here are some foolproof tips to follow:

1. Functionality

Create a space that is easy to use and easy to keep clean. Make play space separate from study-space (for older kids) and sleeping/resting areas.

2. Shelves

Consider wall-to-wall shelving. If you’ve been in a pre-school lately you have probably seen these. There’s a good reason. It’s hard to find what you want in a big toy box, so children tend to dig through it and toss or dump everything on the floor making a mess. If the toys are on shelves in plain view, your children will pick up what they want without making a mess elsewhere.

3. Label

Add some colourful labels (pictures are fun too whether they can read or not), and your little ones can put things back where they belong. Make it a matching game.

4. Special Containers For Small Toys, Art Supplies etc.

This just goes for smaller toys, sets (like Thomas’ railroad system, wooden blocks, plastic food bits for play cooking, or Barbie’s extensive wardrobe). And it is well worth it to bite the bullet and spend the extra cash on more child-attractive containers, preferably themed to the toy it will contain. Kids will definitely be more prone to put Polly Pocket’s accessories in a cute pink and purple floral box rather than an old shoebox, no?

Quotes are a fun (and enlightening!) way to see how others view “the greatest job in the world” an of course, children. Here are some of the funniest and most profound:

Bill Cosby

“My childhood should have taught me lessons for my own fatherhood, but it didn’t because parenting can only be learned by people who have no children.”

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I’m not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.”

“Some authority on parenting once said, “Hold them very close and then let them go.” This is the hardest truth for a father to learn: that his children are continuously growing up and moving away from him (until, of course, they move back in).”

Peter de Vries

“There are times when parenthood seems nothing more than feeding the hand that bites you”

Alvin Toffler

“Parenthood remains the greatest single preserve of the amateur.”

Charles Dickens

“Every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last.”

Anne Frank

“How true Daddy’s words were when he said: All children must look after their own upbringing. Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands. ”

Margaret Fuller

“What a difference it makes to come home to a child!”

GOETHE

“If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.”

“Unlike grownups, children have little need to deceive themselves.”

And my personal favourite:

Unknown

“A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank-account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the make of car I drove. But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a child.”

Yes, it is the word that defines so many of us women – and it is much much more than our job description or family role. As we all know it’s the most maddening yet fulfilling job in the world. But what is the real definition of the word according to the academics? In case you’re curious….

In the case of a mammal such as a human, the biological mother gestates her child (called first an embryo, then a fetus) in the womb from conception until the fetus is sufficiently well-developed to be born. The mother then goes into labour and gives birth. Once the child is born, the mother produces milk to feed the child.

In non-sexual organisms, “mother” can sometimes be used to mean “parent”; in the case of single-celled organisms that reproduce by fission, the mother is a cell that divides to produce “daughters”.

Mothers typically have a very important role in raising children, and the title mother can be given to a woman other than a biological parent who fills this role. This is most commonly either an adoptive parent or a stepmother (the wife of a child’s father). The term can also refer to a person with stereotypical traits of a mother.

“Mum”/”mummy”, “Mom”/”mommy”, “mama” and “ma” are some familiar or colloquial words for a mother. In many south Asian cultures, the mother is known as “Amma” or “Oma” or “Ammi”, or variations thereof. The “M” sound seems to be universal to the word mother in many different languages. Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child’s life.

In some societies, single motherhood, the state of an unmarried mother, has been treated as a serious social issue.