Quarantine!

As parents to a busy little toddler, Conor and I have been considerably lucky in terms of sickness.  Despite my complete and utter negligence in all issues related to sanitation, Fionny has managed to champion through his nearly two years with very few calls to the doctor's office.  This might explain why they still call him "See-a-mus Crimmins" every time we go in for a well visit.

However, I'm sad to report that even Fionn's strong immune system was no match for HFM.  (That's Hand-Foot-Mouth disease for those of you who might be blissfully ignorant about this nasty little virus.)

Sigh.  Yes, as mentioned in the previous post, Fionn showed his first symptoms of HFM last Tuesday morning, and the little tell-tale spots continued to pop up over the next few days.  Since last Tuesday, we battled through a 3-day Solid Food Strike (one word: smoothies), a 4-day Tooth Brushing Strike (two words: wet washcloth), and a 6-day Play Date Strike (one syllable: AAAAAAHHHHH!!).

I love my child dearly, and I adore being a stay-at-home mom.  That said, this is my answer anytime someone says to me, "How on earth do you do it?  I could NEVER stay at home!"  I always reply, "Neither could I!  That's why we NEVER do!" 

It's true.  Fionn and I are an active duo, and we keep our dance card pretty full.  We both seem to thrive when we are experiencing other people and other environments.  To be honest, I consider a very successful day in our lives one in which we do not set foot in the upstairs playroom at all because we have been so fabulously busy during the day.   

However, when there is an active bacteria crawling around in your son's mouth, it pretty much necessitates a major game change.  Play dates are definitely the first thing to go.  Next up on the chopping block?  Soccer Tots and Library Story Time.

Double sigh.

Thankfully, the weather was absolutely gorgeous all last week, so we were able to get out in the backyard and kick around a bit.  We also took daily runs in the jogging stroller and spent some time at the beautiful monastery down the street.  I just had to yell, "Stay back!" anytime another child approached my Fionny.  Poor kiddo.  He probably felt like such a leper.  Well, if the mouth sores fit...

By Friday afternoon, however, Fionn seemed to be on the mend.  His appetite was back, his sores were pretty much gone, and he was allowing me to brush his teeth once again.  All seemed to be on the up and up at Casa de Crimmins.

And then on Saturday...

"What's this?" said my darling husband, sticking his tongue out and pointing to two blister-like spots right smack in the middle of his tongue.  

Oh no.  Say it ain't so.

It was so.  It was definitely so.  The next morning I found my own set of spots.  Two on my tongue, and a few more inside my lip.  The spots were followed shortly by fever, chills, and an intensely swollen mouth that has made eating solids or brushing my teeth pretty much impossible.  

So the quarantine continues.  Only this time I was the identified leper.  

The only good thing about being a family of lepers is that you a) get a lot done around the house and b) spend some unplanned QT as a family.

One of the household tasks that was completed this past weekend was Fionn's Big Boy Bed.  Remember those sweet pictures of Fionn helping Conor sand his new bed?  Yeah, well, the project basically got stalled after those pics were taken.  Conor has been so busy with work, and we have been traveling a bit on the weekends.  Not a lot of time for completing projects.  

Fast forward to a hand-foot-mouth diagnosis, and suddenly our social calendar became completely clear -- imagine that!  Anyway, here are some pictures of the Boy and his Bed.  He is so crazy about this darn bed.

Laid back...with my mind on my milk, and my milk on my mind.

Just gotta tighten a few of these nuts and bolts.

You might noticed that Fionn's Big Boy Bed is not located in his nursery right now.  That's right.  We are keeping it in the dining room until he becomes a consistent escape artist from his crib.  As it stands right now, he has not climbed out of the crib once (not even once!) since that fateful day in February when he first demonstrated his mad Fionndini skills.  We are not about to mess with a good thing, so we'll wait until it seems clear that it is time for Big Boy Bed.  In the meantime, he loves visiting his bed in the dining room.  "Mah beeeeeeh," he loves to say as he presses his face into his Big Boy Pillow.

Another positive side effect of HFM is the forced family togetherness.  Conor took a sick day on Monday because he was still feeling under the weather.  The weather was gorgeous yet again, and the cherry blossoms are nearly at their peak for the season.  We figured, Hey -- HFM is only transmitted by direct contact with infected saliva or stool.  Therefore, unless we lick or poop on someone while out and about, we should be able to safely feast our eyes upon the cherry blossoms without infecting the other people around us. So we took off toward the Tidal Basin.

The blossoms were simply beautiful -- like puffy pink and white happiness.

We also took Fionn to see our favorite monument, the FDR.  Our boy L-O-V-E-D the FDR Memorial.  Why, you ask?  I'll just let the next few pictures tell the story.

It was all I could do to keep him from jumping right in!  "More wah-wah!" 

We also swung by the MLK Memorial since we hadn't seen it yet. 

Fionn wasn't sure what to make of the MLK Memorial.  There wasn't any wah-wah after all.  But he really liked the seating area next to the memorial.  Go figure.  

All in all, it was a nice morning.  We got back to the house where Fionn devoured 1.5 sandwiches and took a nice, long nap while Conor and I made ourselves comfortable on the couch and watched some TV.  Not a bad Monday.  Aside from the mouth sores, that is.  Triple sigh.

I will end with a picture of my husband which was taken at the MLK Monument -- it is my new favorite picture of him because it captures a look of bemusement and love that he often wears on his handsome face.

 Hopefully, my next post will find us 100% recovered.  Here's hoping...