So last Thursday, Nova was his usual chipper self, trying at times but in general, you know, chipper. Like this:
"Mommy! I LOVE this! More onion bagel please!! Why have you NEVER fed me this before??!?"
... then came Friday, which happened to be one of his daycare days, and it's always a challenge to get him fed and into bed without a meltdown, because he's just SO TIRED after a day at daycare. This kid's ideal bedtime is 6pm!
But wow... he was particularly angsty that day:
"How dare you give me something that's not yogurt! Now I don't even WANT yogurt!"
Really really angsty.
Refusing pretty much all food. Except yogurt (which I'd coincidentally/intuitively stocked up on a few days prior. Love it when the Universe does that!!).
And over the weekend he drooled and drooled and drooled, and whined and whined and whined, and ran a slightly elevated temperature, and chomped on his hands & fingers a lot ...
Oh. Teething, huh?
Then some blisters appeared at the corners of his mouth.
FML. It was HFMD.
So that was how we spent our Labor Day weekend: taking care of a kid who was really badly-hit by Hand Foot & Mouth Disease, without knowing it was HFMD until maybe 3 days into its emergence. Nova's timing was perfect, as painful as it all was, better "waste" the long weekend than have to juggle sick kid *and* work! Poor Kosh though, he got no rest at all. None of us did.
Oh, and "waterboarding" your kid in order to get liquids in him? so NOT what I'd ever thought I'd have to do, ever! [Okay, not really waterboarding, but it certainly felt like we were torturing him with water/pedialyte. Nova was refusing food and drink, and we had to keep him hydrated, so finally we held him down and squirted Pedialyte into his mouth with a 10cc oral syringe. Took many rounds to get even 4oz in him. Ugh! We need a larger syringe!!]
Let's just hope Nev didn't get hit with it too. The pediatrician's office said kids that young rarely get it because their immune systems are usually really robust. Let it be so, Nev, let it be so ...
Nova's on the mend, but daycare won't take him in until his blisters start to dry up. Damnit! I *so* need a break!!
Especially when I have to subvert the ring sling being lent to me to strap him to the high chair, otherwise I wouldn't be able to feed him mush or yogurt, nor would I be able to waterboard him solo.
Ugh.
