being a mom means playing detective

For three solid weeks our kid would be fine and fun and dandy until bedtime. Then it would be sneezing, coughing, blowing her nose for a solid 30 minutes. It was enough to drive me insane because we just couldn't figure it out! She was fine all day long. She didn't sniffle once or even come in contact with anyone who was sick. 

My first thought was that she probably needed a good room cleaning. Now that she's taken over cleaning her room (basically to keep me out of there!), my guess is that the dusting is non-existent. I was allergic to dust (and cigarette smoke) as a kid, so I assumed it was the same. Our doctor told us that allergies are a family thing. My klepto style child refuses to get rid of things, so there are piles under the bed of "I can't get rid of this!" stuff.

Finally, after realizing we were seeing a trend on the sneezing, we cranked it into high gear. I tore apart her room the very next day. We vaccuumed base boards, dusted under the bed, back of the closet, cleaned under the dresser (EW!). It was clear that our cleaning lady is slacking on the dusting under furniture. Oh, wait. We don't have a cleaning lady...

At the last minute I also realized she was using a new pillow we had bought about a month ago. And it's down. So we washed and swapped the pillows. My soft fluffy pillow became hers and now I have a new down pillow. And guess what?!?!

She went to bed and not one peep. No sniffles, no snots, no coughs, no drips. Nothing. She woke up happy and rested. So I need to step up the dusting and cleaning baseboards. And no more down pillows! It took almost 3 weeks to realize what was happening but we figured it out and now everyone sleeps just fine. 

Mom=detective