Well, it looks as though our suspicions have been confirmed. Hannah does have Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Ugh! That just sounds !), and, there is really nothing we can do but wait it out. Thankfully she does not seem to be in much (if any) pain or discomfort from it. Her fever disappeared by Tuesday, and she still only has the one canker-sore-like blister in her mouth, which seems to have stopped bothering her. On Tuesday afternoon I noticed that she had developed a rash on her feet….nothing on her hands…but that may yet to come. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this certainly hasn’t been as bad as I was imagining it. I guess if you attach the word “disease†to something, it makes it sound that much worse!
So, we are house-bound for a little while. I am probably being a little over-zealous in my attempt to rid our home of these germs…. I have wiped down, sprayed, and scrubbed every toy, doorknob, button, drawer – anything that she does, or can, touch in the course of a day, and I think I am about to run out of Lysol wipes! My hands are dry and cracking from washing them every few minutes, and I have downed quite a bit of orange juice in an attempt to up my own immune system. Once this is over all water-proof toys are in for a ride in the dishwasher, while the stuffed animals and dolls will get a “bath†in the washing machine! I get canker sores all the time, so I have all the sympathy in the world for my poor little girl, but I don’t want this, and I really don’t want her to get it again!
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I’m trying to be creative with things for Hannah to do all day, since we can’t go to the pool, the park, or even run errands! We have built a variety of lego/block towers, gone for walks around the neighborhood (carefully avoiding the area near the pool/park!), rode on the new rocking horse,
read every book that she owns (many times!)…She has “helped†me with the housework by mopping and sweeping every carpeted surface (yes, only the carpeted ones!) in the house. I am now the proud owner of many works of art (Hannah recently discovered crayons).
I kept the paper ones, but I must admit to scrubbing away the ones on the high chair tray! And we have watched the only Winnie the Pooh DVD we own, over and over! I’m almost sorry that Elmo isn’t on TV more often! Yes, that is the state of desperation that we have reached…
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If anyone out there has some creative “rainy day†ideas, I’m open to any and all suggestions! Thankfully the weather is beautiful, and our wonderful husband/daddy did tackle the jungle that was our backyard on Saturday, so we have been able to venture outside the confines of the house a little bit.Â
We are definitely looking forward to returning to the outside world…