November 25, 2004
The monster exposed
All last week, David was really crabby. He ran a low-grade fever but that in itself was not enough to justify not sleeping at night (for hours!), screaming (for hours!), and being extremely fragile (all the time!). Look at him the wrong way and he'd sob and throw a tantrum. He's got stamina, that kid. His tantrums last. For hours. He also got really picky about eating. Mostly, he threw the food down on the floor or flung it into a corner, in disgust.
My sweet-tempered baby boy had turned into a monster toddler that I wasn't entirely sure I liked, at all.
Then yesterday, we noticed blisters in his mouth.
This morning, the blisters were also on his palms, his soles, and his butt. In profusion. Big fat rash with fluid-filled blisters.
My first reaction was horror (my poor baby!), then relief (oh, he's not a monster, he's just sick!), and then guilt (oh, I hated him for being such a monster and all the time he was sick! I'm a bad mother!).
Sigh. Hand-foot-and-mouth-disease (HFMD) has been going around at Alan's nursery school. Maybe Alan had a subclinical case, since he never showed any signs. OTOH, we were busy keeping David from screaming (for hours!) and Alan has a high tolerance for pain and malaise. Or he will get it next. Oh, joy!
We have invited eight adults and four kids over for Thanksgiving later today. All yesterday was a frenzy of preparation. We organised a butterball turkey via the Embassy (don't tell them!). The menu includes apple-cranberry-currant sauce, asparagus and mushrooms in balsamic vinegar, turkey with all the trimmings, mashed potatoes, squash puree, corn on the cob, salad with avocado, feta and peppers, two kinds of pies...
I just got off a round of conference calls to determine whether it is sensible to have the dinner at all, what with David being infectious. Our guests unilaterally decided to brave the virus and eat the turkey -- the kids all go to INS, so they were probably already exposed. Also, they all had contact with David in the past 5 days, when he was already contagious.
Well.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Posted by claudia at November 25, 2004 09:54 AM