Rash

The fun never stops. William's got hand-foot-and-mouth disease, caused by the coxsackie virus. It's the sort of virus that runs rampant through daycares and playgroups, and guess what made its way into William's playgroup at the Y? Mmmhmmm.

He had a fever earlier this week, and then I noticed a mild rash on his chest. The rash began to spread and darken. David looked at it and diagnosed it. The fever disappeared, luckily, but the rash spread some more. The good news: William seems to be back to his old self, but the bad news is that he's an itchy little fellow for now. Dr. Perkins examined him this morning and recommended that I put some antibiotic cream on his legs and buttocks where he's been grabbing his skin and scratching for all he's worth. She also said I could give him some infant motrin, in addition to the benadryl that I've been giving him.

And she said to just make sure he's getting enough to drink and not to worry too much about food. Poor little guy! I didn't even really think about how the sores in his throat and mouth might make eating a little unpleasant until David said something. He told me not to worry if all William wants to eat for a few days are things like yogurt and bananas. Yesterday, William sat in his high chair and batted away my hands when I attempted to serve him some baby food (carrots, beef and potatoes, in a mix). He just sat there and sobbed "Beh! Beh! Beh!" at me. The lightbulb flickered on over my head when I realized, "He's begging for a banana." Problem solved! He'd already eaten one banana for lunch, but who's going to withhold a banana from a sick baby? Especially a sick baby who's asking for a banana, with such a piteous look on his face. Not me. No sir.

So. The rash should start fading soon, but in the meantime, I guess I need to go buy some more bananas.