Song & Show for the Road

At some point in the recent weeks, Addie has decided that she no longer cares for Mamo's music. With my new finely honed skill to ignore minor whining this allowed me to continue to listen to my music during our daily commute.

Today, Addison dug deep and got creative in her approach--
If I sing louder than the music, it will drive Mamo crazy. Yes, perfect. Loud, off-key singing with few discernible words. All to the general tune of A-B-C-D... Yes, now LOUDER. Then when Mamo tells me to use "indoor voice" (whatever that means) I'll take the lid off my sippy cup and dump it in my lap. Next I'll scream even louder out of frustration of both being wet and being out of water. Yes, this will be the best drive EVER.

Or was it?

Okay, so being an engineer I'm not one to put much stake in "coincidences". Nearly everything in life is a balance of opportunity (chance) and probability. And best of all there is data to support it, or you can collect or make data. That said, I do believe in "bad luck." We'll just need to get past the fact that that acceptance of "bad luck" and rejection of "coincidences" seems mutually exclusive, and accept that these are both part of my belief set.

Bad luck as I understand it comes in runs of 3 and 5. Example: if you've had 1 bad thing happen, expect either two or four more in the near future. I don't understand why 3's and 5's, but my observed data points support this.

So last week when yuck happened, bad luck event number two, we braced for the rest of the bad luck run, which played out like this:
1. Expect to pay out of pocket to sell our house*
2. Scabies (Addison --> all of us)
3. Addison's Miserable teething of 2-old-molars resulting in sleep deprivation for whole Mit Mit household Saturday and Sunday nights.

*However, got 2nd and 3rd opinions which suggested break even or very little impact to sell our house (Woo Hoo!) Take this to be a piece of "good luck" thereby ending the bad luck run at 3.

Interesting development Monday, which makes me think we're not out of the woods yet - on Addison small red bumps which we thought were from the scabies, developed into large collection of blisters on hands, feet, and diaper area. Being suspicious, I consulted with my Mom who advised checking her mouth. Sure enough - huge blister on her tongue. (Not from teething after all.) Conclusion = hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD). Sure would seem like an interesting coincidence if Addison turned out to have both scabies and HFMD in the same week. But rather than accept that all the excessive cleaning, washing, and treatment weren't needed, I'm going to make an exception to my coincidence position and accept "What are the odds? Addison did have both scabies and HFMD in one week."

So back to the bad luck run list, here's how it looks now:
1. Scabies
2. HFMD
3. (Today) Soda bottle explodes all over my work outfit, soaking sweater and pants. Significant enough that I'm heading to target in attempt to remedy. This counts.

Yuck!

I can't think of a better title than "yuck" because everything I'm about to describe is all about "yuck" and the cleaning of "yuck".

It started a few weeks ago at Daycare. The sign went up on Addie's classroom door "Scabies - 1 case." Didn't really think much about it - there's always a warning sign up for something contagious. At the end of last week, the total was up to 5 cases. Addie wasn't showing any symptoms, continued to disregard. Seriously, worrying about every contagious thing occurring at daycare would be a full time job.

On Monday morning I get a call - daycare thinks Addison has scabies. I need to take her home NOW. (Immediately start to feeling itchy sitting in meeting. Must be little mites crawling all over me. Ohmigod-ohmigod. Stay cool.) We get in to see the Peds in the afternoon. At Peds we're handled with HazMat-like rigor: Immediately placed into an examine room and asked to try not to touch anything. (Right, Addison will just sit calmly on my lap and not move. Great plan.) I think even I saw the receptionist throw away the pen I used to sign my co-pay receipt. Here's what the rash looked like on Addie's leg:

Although she lacked the classical scabies symptoms (rash between fingers & toes) - this itchy rash plus exposure to known cases was enough to decide to treat her. And Eric. And me. Head to toe application of Elimite cream, wash off in morning. Lovely.

In addition to the treatment we have to clean and contain the exposure in our house. This means washing EVERYTHING in hot water (clothes, towels, bedding.) And sealing in garbage bags w/ duct tape anything we can't wash (shoes, area rugs, hats, toys, etc.) Okay, I'll admit that the handout from the Peds stated we only needed to wash the clothes we've worn in the 3 days, bedding and towels. But let's be realistic, who wants to find out they missed a few mites and have this start all over in 2 weeks.

So as of Tuesday morning, we're not contagious and our house is clean. All of the garbage bagged items will be released on Friday. Ahhhhh.

And Addie sends a big shout out to all of you who lovingly spent time with her this past weekend only to find yourselves also subjected to cream applications and copious amounts of laundry. Love ya!

State Fair

Okay, so got a little behind on blog writing (again). While I could find many things to blame (sick toddler, weekend trip to cabin, business trip)...still doesn't change the fact that I'm behind. Rather than skip all the fun stories, just bare with me as they'll be a few weeks behind.

Boston scientific day at the MN state fair--Addie's 2nd trip to the fair, for Eric somewhere in the 5th - 10th range, and for me about #26 or so. Quick run down of highlights and some photos:

• Got an early start on the day with a ride to the fair from the Southdale bus. (Buses very popular with toddlers. Fascinating.) We met up with grandma & grandpa.
• Spent the morning going through the animal barns. Addie was especially afraid of the horses & chickens. Sure, the horses are BIG and I can't really argue with her on the chickens. They are a little creepy with their pointy beaks...and feathers. I think she liked the bunnies (when asked she proclaimed they were all BLUE colored...we're working on that) and cows best.
• We visited the Oink booth & got our ears.
• Addie rode the giant slide with Grandpa. Immediately asked for more-more-more!
• Rode the carousel with Dad. Definitely NOT a favorite, was completely off the horse & in Dad's arms after three rounds.
• Most importantly the food recap: corn roast - fabulous as always, Norwegian banana split - pretty awful, Sweet Martha's cookies & all you can drink milk - Yum! (Not that our food recommendations matter at this point...blog entry so late cannot possible influence your choices as fair ended last week.)
  

Addie & Grandpa TJ in the Animal barn

The "Blue" bunnies

Addie & Mom in our Oink ears

BSC co-workers & Addie's Friend Abbie

Riding the carousel with Dad

Addie on the Giant slide with Grandpa