Notes from the crib

We are well on our way into illness number two for George. On Friday we went to the park with friends and since it's March, I didn't think to put on sunscreen. The temperature was in the 80s that day, and later that night the friends we were with mentioned that they'd all gotten sunburned. When George awoke on Saturday morning with pink cheeks, I thought he must be sunburned, too, so we went on our merry way to the birthday party and then some shopping. On Sunday morning, George awoke with bright red splotchy cheeks, so we thought maybe it wasn't sunburn after all but maybe an allergy to something, perhaps from rolling around in the grass at the park? This morning it was even worse, and has now spread to red dots on his arms and legs. I called the pediatrician's office and the nurse I spoke with thought it was probably Fifth Disease. There's nothing that can be done for it, and it doesn't bother George in the slightest. It's a virus that's only contagious before the rash appears, so I'm hoping that he didn't infect anyone we were with on Friday or Saturday. I went ahead and told all of the people we were around, so they could watch their kids for symptoms. I also notified the child care at the gym, since he was there four days last week. The gym is probably where he's been picking up these germs; it's pretty coincidental that I've made a concerted effort to go work out for the past three weeks and he's now had the first two big illnesses of his life. Oh well, he's got to get exposed to germs sometime.

I've been sick since Saturday night with "cold like" symptoms so I'm hoping that I'm not also coming down with the disease. I'm curious to see if I'll have a rash breakout in a few days.

Here's a shot of my red-faced boy. It's no wonder they call it "slapped face disease". He sure does need a haircut. Every time I think of getting him one lately, he gets sick. Maybe it's a ploy on his part to grow long hair?