Fifth Disease

What a week!  Liam started getting a rash on Sunday.  My initial thought was that it was a heat rash.  It was the first hot weekend of the season, he had been outside, sitting in the stroller and in and out of the car seat, he was hot and sweaty, heat rash made perfect sense.  Until Monday.  Monday was a holiday, Victoria Day, so when Liam went to bed for his morning nap, I went to plant my garden.  When he woke up from his nap, his face was red and he was COVERED in a rash.  But, Monday was hotter than Sunday, so I was still going on my heat rash theory.  I changed him into cooler clothes and the rash faded.  I figured that I knew what I was talking about.  I've worked in daycare for 12 years and have seen countless heat rashes and many other rashes on little kids over the years.  I was convinced.  I was sure that by Tuesday morning it would be gone and we would be home free.

Guess what . . . I was WRONG!  Tuesday morning, he was still rash covered.  So, off to work/daycare we went.  By 9am, we knew that there were two other infants who had rashes over the weekend.  Both were headed to the Doctor and I quickly made arrangements to leave early to take Liam as well.  The first child came back with and allergy.  The second came back with a virus.  And then there's Liam . . . he has Fifth Disease.  As soon as the doctor told me that's what it was, I felt like an idiot.  I have seen Fifth Disease numerous times.  So has Rhonda, my supervisor, who was as baffled by the rash as I was.  And we even had a case of Fifth Disease a few weeks ago.

The name "Fifth Disease" makes it sound a whole lot worse than it is.  Basically it is a virus, very common in kids, they have cold like symptoms and then a few days later, a rash.  End of story.  There is no exclusion from daycare because they are contagious before they have any symptoms.  So, basically, I just have a spotty kid for the next few days!

It's not the best picture, but you can see the redness on his cheek (which is why it is also known as Slap Cheek) and the rash on his arm.  He whole body is covered in the rash.

The End of an Era

The LOST era.  Yes, I will admit, I have, for the past six years been completely and hopelessly addicted to ABC's Lost.  I was hooked from the very first episode when Oceanic 815 first hit "The Island" and I waited anxiously from week to week for the next installment.

Now that it is all over, I don't know if I should be disappointed or relieved.  Lost was the one and only show that I watched faithfully.  And I will miss it every Tuesday night.  But at the same time there is some relief that there won't be anymore hours spent waiting for answers and only getting more questions.  

As much as I loved the show, it has been one of the most frustrating and irritating shows to watch.  Every time they answered a question, they left you with ten more.  Every time you decided to like a character, they threw a curve ball at you, causing you to despise the same person.

But the unpredictability was part of what drew me to the show and kept me watching.  So many shows these days are the same thing week after week.  With Lost, you never knew what to expect.  Each episode focused on a different person or story line.  And if you didn't pay attention, you were more Lost than Jake, Kate and Sawyer.

Although I found the ending to be somewhat anticlimactic and there are still countless questions that could have been answered, I have enjoyed every minute of my Lost time.  I do think that Jacob should have been there with everyone else at the end, to lead them on, because he is the one who brought them all together in the first place, but that's just my opinion!  I look forward to season 6 being released on DVD so that I can watch the whole series from start to finish because there are probably some answers hidden away in the details that I missed.  Until then, I have a little bit more free time on my hands!

WEEKEND!!!!!

This past week seemed to last FOREVER!!!  Work was busy and a little on the chaotic side but overall it was a good week, except for the fact that it seemed like it was never going to end!  But alas, it did and here we are in the middle of the weekend!! Today was a BUSY day and I didn't really get much accomplished at home as I had hoped, but it was a good day!  The weather was gorgeous.  I got to spend some time with good friends.  When out for a simple, but nice dinner.  Liam was a very good boy all day long and went to bed very easily.  Now, I am enjoying a nice, much desired wine spritzer, which I am really glad that I bought this morning!  

Tomorrow, we are going to be out all day, buying tires for the truck and hitting the flea market.  I love flea markets, although I haven't very high expectations for tomorrow.  We went about a month ago and it was pretty disappointing.  So much so that we said we weren't ever going to go back.  However, a co-worker of Henry's said that it is much better now that the weather is nicer.  So, seeing as how we will be driving right by it, we will stop and look around.  Either way, a day out and about with the Little Man should be fun!

I like weekends!  Life should have more weekends!

All in a day's work!

No, I wasn't scratched by a cat or any other type of animal.  I was scratched by an angry toddler!  The child, usually one of the best behaved of the group recently found out that mom is expecting a baby and has started lashing out at me whenever things don't go her way.  And lately, that is often!

It's not the first time I've gone home with scratches or bite marks, in child care, it is all in a day's work!

Baby Talk

I absolutely LOVE listening to Liam "talk".  Mostly, he just babbles away to himself or his toys but often, he is very obviously talking to me.  I haven't the slightest idea what he is trying to tell me but as long as I look interested and reply when he pauses, he just keeps going as if we were having a real, perfectly coherent conversation.  Sometimes our conversations are happy, sometimes they are funny, sometimes they are very serious and on other rare occasions they are very sad.

He even has conversations with his bedtime dragon and teddy bear before he goes to sleep at night and when he wakes up in the morning.  I love listening to those ramblings through the baby monitor.

He does have a small collection of or real "words".  And by words, I mean things that resemble words that he uses regularly.

ada, da, dad, addy - are all variations of dad (this was also his first word)

mom, ma - obviously this is mom, however we don't hear this one very often, I am afraid that he is going to call me Nicki before he calls me mom because he hears everyone at daycare calling me Nicki all the time!

cat - actually means cat!

kitty - this usually means bunny

dag, dog, doggie - dog

catty - this is what he calls his stuffed sheep, when he is really excited it could mean cat or bunny!

ah da - all done, although he doesn't quite get the meaning!

hi - means hi and bye

oh-oh - his favorite word!

ba - ball

dor-da - Georgia, his daycare girlfriend's name

night - good night, although this is a fairly new one that he hasn't said very often

I really do love this part of the infant/toddler stage as they slowly develop from a few little words to talking in full sentences.  And it is even more fun and exciting now that it is my own little boy.  I can only imagine that if Liam continues to talk as much as he does now we are going to have many interesting conversations in the years to come!

Sick Boy Update

Grandma took the sick little man to the clinic yesterday to see what was behind the pesky fever that just wasn't going away and it turns out that it's a double ear infection.  I can't believe how good he is when he has an ear infection.  I have only ever (that I can remember) had one ear infection and it was so incredibly painful that I could hardly stand it.  I was such a baby about it.  But for the most part, Liam just keeps going as if nothing was wrong.  And just the same as the last time (back in November) it is in both ears.  What a little trooper I have!

So, it is antibiotics (biaxin) twice a day for the next ten days for my little guy, but again, I am lucky, because he takes medicine very easily.  (And I know first hand from my years of working in daycare how difficult it can be to get some kids to take their medication.)

I took today off work to stay home with Liam, not really because he needed me, he has been perfectly happy spending time with Grandma and Aunty, but because I felt guilty leaving him when he's sick.  He was in a wonderful mood, full of energy and eager to play all day.  I am glad that we had some good quality time together!

For Mother's Day, I got . . .

A little boy with a fever of 102 F.  But the day wasn't all bad.  Henry got up with Liam, so that I could sleep in.  We went ou for lunch and all had a nap in the afternoon.  It wasn't until after nap time that i had a sick, crabby baby in my arms.  But I must say that we are very lucky with this little man.  Even when he is sick, which isn't very often, he's usually in a pretty good mood.  As soon as I got a dose of infant tylenol and a bottle of milk into him, he was playing like there was nothing wrong!  We even had a little photo shoot!

Unfortunately, this morning, the fever was up to 103 F and my little bear spent the day with Grandma and Aunty Margaret and that's where he'll be again tomorrow.  Although I know that he is well cared for when he's with that, I know that he has lots of fun visiting with them (and his furry friends that live there) and he absolutely adores Grandma and Aunty, the mommy guilt is hitting me pretty bad today.  I wish that I was the one with him when he was sick so that I could cuddle him and make him feel better.  I know that I should be grateful that I have someone who can look after him easily on days like this, and I am, but I still feel like I should be there with my baby, not taking care of other peoples' kids.  I hope that he knows that I would be with him if I could.

Toddler Personalities

Do all toddlers suffer from multiple personality disorder?  I am seriously beginning to think that they do!  The sweetest, most cuddly child can go from quietly looking at a book to beating his best friend over the head with said book for no obvious reason.  There's the little girl who is carefully playing with one of the younger children, then as quickly as if someone flicked a light switch, she becomes Little Miss Bossy, telling everyone (including the teachers) what to do and how to do it.  Another child appears to be my best friend is suddenly hitting and scratching me because I needed her to move a step so I could open a door.  This same child can adore a person one day and the next day be too shy to even speak to the same person.

If you can imagine a personality type, chances are a toddler has it hidden in there somewhere.  They are very unpredictable creatures, you never know quite what you are going to get or when you are going to get it.  Chances are if you expect that a situation will cause a scene and are prepared for it, it will go by unnoticed.  And then, when you least expect it, some insignificant little thing will cause a melt down of epic proportions.

When it comes to toddlers, you have to always be on top of the game, prepared for everything - ready to give hugs and kisses to kids who adore you; ready to deal with outbursts from kids who feel like they hate you; ready to redirect behaviors; ready with firm words and time outs; ready to be a doctor for boo-boos big and small, real and imaginary, new and old; ready for anything you can imagine and a million things that you can't.

And don't expect to figure them out - ever!  Because even with more than 10 years experience with toddlers, I haven't figured them out.  Every time I think I'm getting close, a new one comes along and blows everything I thought I knew about them out the window!  There is never a dull moment in a toddler program . . .

We now return to our regular scheduled ramblings . . .

Phew!  Garage Sale weekend is over and I've had a few days to recover.  New Moon Rabbit Rescue raised just over $1200 for the bunnies.  As much as I love being able to help out this wonderful organization, run by two of my dearest friends, I am so glad that it is over!  It was four long, exhausting days of hard work!

Now it is time to focus my energy into other things - BROWNIES - two more meetings and camp and then we are done for the summer.  Yee Haw!  It is another one of those things that although it is a lot of fun and very rewarding, it's nice to have a break.  HOUSE WORK - the place looks like a tornado went through it.  GARDENS - so far so good there, but soon it will be time to plant the veggie garden, then it gets busier!  And of course, WORK - I am still venturing into potty training hell every day - although yesterday, one of my boys ASKED to go to the potty and then actually PEED - is it a break through or a coincidence?  Only time will tell!

And of course above everything else is FAMILY TIME!  There never really is enough family time.  My little boy is growing up so fast, I just can't keep up with all the things he's learning and doing.  And soon (by soon, I mean should have been done last week!) we are going to have to take him for his first haircut.  It makes me sad.  But I've always said that I'm not going to be one of those moms who cries every time her baby reaches a new milestone!

So, if I disappear from blog land again in the next little it while, it is either because I have gotten lost in this disaster of the house - please send help!