hand-foot-mouth

my poor madelyn. she hasn't slept more than three hours at a time in two days. that is the first time in her entire life that she has had nights with less than four hours at a stretch - ever. last night was worse than the night before because it took over an hour to get her calm enough to go back to sleep. matt held her for a while and then i took over and held her until she stopped screaming/whimpering.

for those of you who missed my update on yesterday's post, madelyn has hand-foot-mouth disease. it is sort of like the chicken pox - highly contagious, uncomfortable, and once you get it you probably won't get it again. i noticed the beginnings of a rash on the tops of her feet and toes yesterday morning and that is why i called the doctor's office. today it has covered most of her legs - you can sort of see it on the backside of her calf in this picture.

luckily, in this case the rash is not itchy, but it does occur inside her mouth which has removed her desire to eat. all she has had in the past three days is cherrios, teething biscuits and water. i can get her to take a bite here and there of yogurt, applesauce, and today, sugar-free jello but she is nowhere close to getting a normal meal.

to make things worse, she has been refusing her medicine today so she is really getting no relief. at least i have gotten her to nap twice. i think that she is just starting to hit the wall after so little nourishment and sleep. i hate seeing her so pitiful. you can just see how tired she is by looking at her little face and its red rimmed eyes.

overall i think that she is doing a little better today. she even went outside to play with her sticks for a while. you can see from the picture that she is drooling like a faucet. her shirt was sticking to her body down to her bellybutton with all the drool pouring out! at least i know that she isn't dehydrated.

even with her illness madelyn has come up with some new 'tricks'. today i was holding her in my lap and reading to her. when we finished that book she got down off my lap, went to the bookshelf and picked the book she wanted, then brought it back to me. she even tried to get back up in my lap herself with the book! i have been waiting for her to do this since kids often do and she loves her books so much.

another new 'trick' is that you can ask her "where's your shirt?" and she will pull on her shirt; either near the neck or lifting up the bottom. she can also pat her belly when you ask her "where's your belly?". she can't find her own bellybutton though, but will point at where "bear"s

would be if he had one.

lastly, i haven't had a chance to mention a new word from last week - "down". she definitely hears that one a lot so it is not surprising that she says it too. love.