There’s something about this time of year. Cold temperatures, blustery winds, seeing your breath curl in the frosty morning air. Winter is making her presence felt in more ways than one.

As are the accompanying coughs and colds.

I have to say our family is usually pretty lucky on that front. We’re a healthy lot. Whilst some people catch every little sniffle and bug going around, most of the time we manage to dodge them. Key word here being MOST. My youngest boy, H, was not so lucky this week. Friday night he was a bit flushed and feeling a little flat and didn’t eat much of his dinner. Saturday morning dawned and he awoke with an impressive barking cough and needed a tissue more often than not. His weekend was spent mostly under a blanket on the couch or snuggled under his doona asleep in bed, poor darling.

We have gone through a ridiculous amount of tissues this weekend…

Keeping up his fluids wasn’t a problem, but I had to be a little creative administering the paracetamol he needed to control his fever. H flat out will not take liquid medicine, no matter what you put it in and believe me, we tried everything! He is the KING of the Taste Olympics and has a talent for detecting medicine’s distinctive flavour immediately. The day they create a flavourless version of paracetamol will be a great day for many other parents too, I suspect.

Not surprisingly, we’ve achieved much greater success using tablets when needed for a little while now. Normally these go down okay with no dramas. Except that this time his throat was obviously sore from all the coughing so we had some issues. I cut the tablet in half to make it easier and he managed one half before he looked up mournfully at me with fever-glazed eyes.

H:   “I CAN’T do it, Mum.”

Me: “Just one more, mate. Take a big drink of water and then swallow. One more and that’s it, okay?”

H:   “No, no, no. I can’t take any more… NO MORE TABLETS!”

And with that he buried his face into the pillow. Along with his snotty nose. Sigh.

Me: “Okay, mate. It’s okay. No more tablets.”

It was time for Plan B. You know the one, right? The one you use when the first one isn’t working? I crushed the other half tablet and mixed it in his water bottle, which he thankfully drank without argument. Medicine by stealth, baby! Sneaky yet very effective. Thank God crushed tablets are virtually tasteless. We kept it up for the rest of the weekend.

I’ve kept him home from school today just in case but I reckon he’ll be right for tomorrow – the constant chatter while he plays has returned, as has his appetite. Right on time – school holidays start at the end of the week!

How is your household surviving winter so far? Do you have any medicine-haters in your house?