Week before last when Joshua’s pancreatitis symptoms were presenting themselves, I was unsure of why his behavior was so uncontrollable. he was having bouts of screaming coupled with moaning and groaning. most of the fits were antagonized by the nurse or I trying to do the most harmless acts. many times not even touching him.

Not sure about where this behavior was stemming from, I sat down and had the “Never cry wolf…” speech with him. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t just acting out. Thinking he understood this, I was confident the only screams I’d be hearing were pain derived. So we acted on them, took him in to the ER and thankfully caught his pancreatitis before it go too adanced.

Which brings me to today.

Before I go into the bathroom here in our hospital room to shower, I ask Joshua, “Do you need to go potty?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, I don’t need to.”

“OK, I’m getting in the shower, don’t scream at me telling me you need in.”

“OK.”

So, 5 minutes later, guess what I hear? Yep,

“Momma!” like it’s the end of the world.

Same siuation happened the day before only for me to hurry out to find that, “I don’t have to go anymore, it went away.”

This afternoon, I’m in the bathroom again and can once again hear his screams, which this time are loud enough to bring in his nurse. I’m out, sweeping him in the bathroom as quickly as possible. So, the nurse and I are talking about the series of events listed above and I hear this soft voice coming from behind the bathroom door.

“Mom. Are you talking about, Don’t scream at the sheep?”

—–Yep, I can tell he got the gist of my story.

Good to know our children are listening, huh?