Bad Week

Dear Lila,

The saying that bad things come in threes came true this week when you got walloped by a trio of illnesses. Last weekend, you came down with a fever and red eyes that still hadn't gone away by Monday, so we took you to the pediatrician and found out you got pinkeye. Treatment for that requires me to put painful eye drops into your eyes twice a day for 10 days, which you obviously do not enjoy. You run and hide in a corner, cry, scream and cover your eyes when you see me with the eye drop bottle, so I literally have to sit on top of you and pry your eyes open while PoiPoi or Daddy holds your head still. Oye.

On Tuesday, you woke up with rashes all over your body so we took you back to the doctor and discovered that you also had strep. So in addition to eye drops, you have to take an antibiotic twice a day--at least that I can hide in a cup of orange juice.

You seemed better on Thursday so you were able to go to school, which I was happy about because it was the day of your class birthday party. Daddy and I came to your class and I talked to your classmates about you, read one of your favorite books, I Love You Through and Through, to them and brought everyone Sofia the First cupcakes.

Your school holiday show was yesterday but unfortunately, we couldn't make it. At your party on Thursday, I noticed that you were walking strangely and kind of balancing on the outer edges of your feet. That evening, you complained that your feet hurt and crawled around everywhere instead of walking. There weren't any bruises or bumps on your feet so I just put you to bed and hoped the pain would be gone in the morning. But it wasn't. Your feet hurt so much that you couldn't even stand up without whimpering and buckling in pain, so Daddy took you to the emergency room. You poor thing, you were there from 10 in the morning until 6:30 at night while the doctors ran test after test. And after an entire day of tests and waiting in a boring hospital room, all they could come up with was that you likely had a viral infection that was causing you joint and muscle pain. They gave you some ibuprofen and thankfully, you woke up this morning feeling fine and have been walking normally.

There was a fourth "bad" thing, too--even though it is December, it has been so warm (hello, climate change) that you actually got three huge mosquito bites on your face earlier in the week. But those are clearing up, your eyes are not red anymore, you're getting over the strep and your feet don't hurt anymore. Whew, you powered through it all!

Love,
Mom