whenever i hear the term hand foot and mouth disease (hf&m), i always think of horses. isn't there a hoof disease out there?

apparently, hf&m disease is very common in children, and most kiddies contract (?) it at some point or the other. sort of like head lice or worms, just not quite as high on the embarrassing scale.

there has been an outbreak of hf&m disease (i don't like that they call it a disease, it makes me feel guilty for laughing about it) at sebastian's school. a few of his friends have it.  i figure sebastian's chances are good for staying hf&m disease free. if he was going to get it, he would have by now, right?

i got a call from a mother, asking about the birthday party sebastian's classmate is throwing tomorrow afternoon. would sebastian be going?

i got a little nervous. how did the mother know that i was so tired i was wishing i didn't have to take sebastian and i could just wait for magnificent charles to walk through the door, and say, welcome home, if you want your child to enjoy his social life could you please take him to the party, i want to sit down and re-read appointment in samarra.

sure, he's going. i reassured the mother, banishing thoughts of laying on my bed, olivia the cat on my lap, turning pages happily.

even with the disease running rampant through the school?

i gave my spiel, if he hasnt got it yet....

well what about giving it? what if he is a carrier?

if i can go, he can go. he's going. i think.

i am a tired girl. the babeolas didn't sleep that well last night, and not because the early signs of hf&m disease were keeping them awake.

carys has had a fever and threw up around 10.30. not just milk, either, a fine combination of lentils and pumpkin. i undressed her and then pulled on another sleeper, noting how long my little girl's legs are getting. and once i had snapped all the snaps, i realised my hands hadn't been too clean when i put the sleeper on and i had smeared the deja vu pumpkin and lentil on a bit of the sleeper my darling was now wearing.

if the smear had been near her knees, i would have just left it. but it was near her shoulder, and smelt a little bit, and not a nice smell, you understand. so i washed my hands, unsnapped her, pulled her unwilling arms out of the sleeves, and pulled out another sleeper and popped it over her head, arms through the appropriate holes, etc.

back to bed for carys.

then at 11pm, i had to give her her bottle. mila knew i was tired and wanted to do it, so i let her, and did penance by washing the throwup that hadn't landed on the sleeper out of carys' sheepskin rug.

carys went back to sleep.

even in her sleep sela could detect there had been activity that did not include her, and that fact was enough to rouse her, and for her tongue wagging screaming to commence. 15 minutes later, she was also asleep.

i pointed to jasper, sleeping on his stomach as always and silently urged him to continue sleeping. or at least cry facing down so it wouldn't wake me up.

carys was up around 2am for about 30 minutes, whinging a bit. no vomit. gave her some paracetomol.

then at 3am, sebastian decided it was morning and came to my bed and stared at me. and stared some more.

i don't sleep well when magnificent is out of town at the best of times, so when i suspiciously opened my eyes and became aware that i was a) not alone and b) another person (not olivia the cat) was a few centimetres from me, i shrieked.

mental note to self: make him wear a bell around his neck. tell sebastian it is a necklace. he'll go for it.

mummy, i need to do wee wee

did you do a wee wee before you went to bed?

no, i did wee wee in the baf.

it has not been a good week for bathtubs in our flat.

Comments

[AyEnDeeAreEeAyAitch]

Hee hee. Funny Sebastian with his wees. HF&M disease is also common here in WA state and my sitters kids also got a little bout of it about a month ago. Remarkably Kasey didn't get it. Which is good.

I think keeping Sebs hands sterilized with Purell hand santitzer or some other instant sanitizer is a good idea. I made the sitters kids slather themselves in it before they came near Kasey. You know how 3 year old boys just want to touch everything? Well the sitters 3 year old by loves to pat, touch and rub all over Kasey. I think this helped her!

Good luck and get some sleep!

[Amber]

LOL! Sorry to hear you had a rough evening, but it was so funny to read about it from here!

Best part...or at least cry facaing down so it wouldn't wake me up...WAY TOO FUNNY, had tea come out my nose partially.

Thank you for this blog. I adore it!

[Lauren]

What did sebastian mean by needing to wee wee? soz i just don know what it means.