what are those childhood lessons we lisped at our mother's knee?

if you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all (not a grammatical dream, but a good lesson nevertheless)

do unto others as you would have others do unto you (i would love it if when we went out to dinner my friends always suggested we eat indian)

never smile at a crocodile (because why?)

and, oh yes, i remember it now...

DON'T MAKE FUN OF HF&M DISEASE AND PUBLICLY DECLARE YOUR CHILDREN DON'T HAVE IT BECAUSE BY THE NEXT MORNING THEY WILL.

i had forgotten that one.

i don't know how carys found the time to get hf&m disease, she was crying all last night and i was carrying her from midnight to four am. yet, by 7am, she had a perfect little pustule under her tongue. i guess while her mouth was open all night long, the pustule moved in and set up house.

and jasper also has hf&m. he isn't unconsolable, and still smily. a little confusion dots his brow, but otherwise, he is fine, and jasper. his pustules are on his hand.

sela, horrified with visions of possible long term disfigurments that hf&m disease might result in, is fighting the good fight and refusing to succumb to it. she still might, though. and sebastian, so far so good.

no party today.

explaining to sebastian, who was singing happy birthday in preparation for the party, that he would not be attending was not an easy task.

i couldn't say because your brother and sister are sick, because if my parents had stopped me from going to a party because pam and graeme were sick, i would have hated pam and graeme. so i couldn't really give the reason he was going, i had to give an alternative.

bassin go to sam abu daday party?

actually, sebastian, we;re going to stay home because daddy is coming home today! instead of going to the party, we're going to see daddy!

whew! those long dormant pr crisis skills coming into play. i thought that was a brilliant, and possibly only way to console sebastian about not attending the party. 

he's in his bed (singing happy birthday) right now. i didn't know that "abu daday" was a lullaby, but it soothed the wee three off to sleep, and for that, i am grateful.

my turn.

Comments

[Boulder]

Oh dear! Boy when it rains it pours. BTW - Several places where I have lived have tied the spread of hf&m to shopping carts in the local groceries and are now placing disinfectant wipes at the cart entrances.

How fortunate that MC selected this very time to be gone to return as the hero to Seb's sad predicament.

But how much more wonderful that you despite being more tired than I can even imagine had the sheer brilliance to put such a positive spin on a Seb's unfortunate situation.

Hope the illnesses have run their course through your household & that you are blessed with a quiet joy over the holidays and 4 lovely children to spend it with!

xoxo

[Julie]

Tess,

I always enjoy my visits here... I should comment more than I do!!! But I visit every day to hear how you, hubby and your four beautiful children are doing.

I hope your little ones are feeling better soon. I have never heard of HF&M disease before... Poor little kiddos!!!

Hugs
Julie

[sue(kiwican)]

It took me forever to figure out what hf&m was *finally - i think hand foot and mouth? yes, no?! and yes - does sound like a trendy magazine - maybe architecture oriented??

Tess - have a wonderful and happy holiday with the family! I'll be in toronto for a few days visiting my mom and sister. x0