Playground for two, please

Last week, in a rare interval when the tiny people in my house weren't trying to cough up a lung, we went to a playground at an elementary school. It seemed like the safest option; not many people go there outside of school hours, so my kids' germs would be long gone by the time kids returned the next day. Teachers and a soccer team were hanging around, so it wasn't deserted and creepy.
Matthew for the first time seemed to realize that playgrounds are places for, well, fun. He went down the slide (sort of; with me holding him) and smiled tentatively, sensing he was supposed to love it (he didn't, but he's very polite.) Then he sat down with Christopher and I while we made his backhoe - his "Scoop" - shovel up the small leaves that already littered the ground. Matthew, for some reason, found this hilarious. He laughed and laughed. Christopher laughed with him. The day is still far off, but it was possible to see a time when the two of them will actually play together and have fun.
The downside of the loving, happy brotherhood is the germs. My God, the germs.
Matthew and I got sick last Monday. Slight fever, cough, cold. The doctor sent him to the ER for tests. Fortunately, they confirmed that it was a really bad cold. She looked at Christopher suspiciously, but he spent his time huddled behind a bench and screaming "Don't do that! Matthew doesn't like it!" and was clearly not sick. Not then at least. But Christopher loves his brother. And he really loves to kiss his brother.
On Saturday, when I was fully recovered and Matthew was getting better, Christopher got it. Things went downhill from there. Christopher is now taking prednisone, antibiotics and albuterol. He and Matthew will both be taking maintenance respiratory medicine for the foreseeable future.
The whole experience was - is - awful, but the worst is knowing that it's just the first in a long string of shared illnesses. Especially when Christopher starts bringing home more than art projects from preschool. By January, he may be sadly resigned to getting to the car and taking a dip in the Lysol bath in the back before buckling up next to his brother.