Shicken Spotty

My younger daughter is terribly reactive to bug bites--she gets huge whelps that take a couple of days to go down from mosquito bites--so we weren't surprised when she came in from outside with a couple red spots around her eyes last week. A couple hours later when they had blossomed across her face, shoulders, and back, we knew that something else was up. When the spots came to a head, it was pretty much confirmed: She has the chicken pox.

It is a fairly light case I think. She hasn't slowed down at all--no fever, no malaise, and honestly very little itching. A little calamine lotion and she's been fine. It's a beautiful thing to watch an unaltered immune system working just like it should. We've laid low from most of our group activities this week to minimize the spread of this dreaded varicella virus, and just as much to keep from answering quite so many questions about vaccinations. At this point I'm happy to educate anybody who truly wants to understand our decision not to vaccinate, but at the same time I'm done with all the drama that seems to be inherent with the ensuing conversation. I've been asked a couple of times if she had the varicella vaccine, and I've simply replied, "No." When pressed for more, "Because we chose not to.", and done.

One of the 2 y/o's aunts is a stablehand at a horse barn, and ever since the 2 y/o found out, we've been incessantly hounded to "Go see the horses?" Yesterday the boy nursed really well in the morning, so the wife planned to sleep through the rest of the day before she got up to go to work, meaning we were relatively mobile. After hearing the horse request for the hundredth time in an hour, I finally just packed them into the car for the 95 mile drive to grandma's house. It was more than a visit to see the horses--there were cousins in town and a birthday cake to be eaten. It turned out to be a good visit, even braving the in-laws solo with the kiddos.

The visit to the horse barn was the stuff from which memories are made. The 2 y/o was in heaven. She helped brush and curry the horses, fed them sugar cube treats out of her own hand; she even got to sit up on the back of a horse to finish grooming the mane. But she didn't quit there. She helped Aunty Em feed every one of the horses, lugging the heavy feed scoop down to each stall and emptying them into the feed buckets. Then she helped haul hay flakes, and finished up by helping push the broom to clean up. She worked hard and focused for about 90 minutes and she had a great time. As soon as she hit her carseat for the drive home she sacked out.

And yes, totally forgot my camera to get any pictures of this. No worries though, she woke up this morning asking to "Go see the horses?"