Ryleigh's world

It has been awhile since I have dedicated an entire post to my little diva. So, here is a quick catch up on what has been going on in Miss Ryleigh's world lately.

Ryleigh has decided that she likes to color. Sadly, she also likes the break all her crayons while coloring, which often led to frustration for Mama. She has a mini (travel-size) Magna-Doodle, and she enjoys coloring, erasing, and drawing again. I had heard of the Aqua-Doodle and thought I would look in to it. We picked one up at a random Walmart trip, and have not look backed since. Ryleigh likes me to write her name on her "paper," and then she goes to town. She has colored the entire thing and also just drawn shapes/lines. The one draw back? We have to wait for the water to dry before we can color again.
A few weeks back, I picked Ryleigh up from school. She was acting puny, but when I tried to get her to take her nap, she refused. I left her in her room for awhile. thinking she would conk out. No luck. So finally, I told her she could watch a movie in Mommy and Daddy's bed, if she laid quietly. Sure enough, after only about 15 minutes, I noticed she was really quiet! I went in, and this is how I found her.

Knocked out cold! And she did not budge! I even moved her to lay on a (normal) pillow and get her under the covers, and still, not a peep. Ryleigh acting puny? There had to be a reason. And wouldn't you know that when I picked her up, she was definitely warm. When she woke up from her nap (2.5 hours later!!), she was HOT. And whiny. And not feeling well. But whenever I asked her if anything hurt, she would not point to anything (ears, "neck" (throat), or anything). After her snack and some Tylenol, she started to perk up again. But the fever remained, and as the night went on, it continued to climb, despite our efforts to stay on Tylenol and strip her down. At one point, it got up to 103.8, and I did NOT like that. We gave her a luke warm bath, and she was shivering so much her legs could barely hold her. When I went to brush her teeth that night, she whimpered and said it "burned." I thought she meant her throat (to which she said no), and as I looked closer, I noticed a small blister-looking thing under her tongue. Poor girl. I had no idea what it meant, if anything. All I knew was that the fever was not going down and she was feeling worse by the minute. We piggy-backed the Tylenol and the Motrin, and made a plan to call the doctor first thing in the morning.

Needless to say, no one slept well that night. However, her fever finally started to subside around 5am. I was on the phone with the doctor by 7:15, to verify that all was well. (Better safe than sorry, right?) I took her in and the doctor looked her over. Sure enough, Ryleigh's fever was gone, her ears looked good, and her chest sounded good. The doctor asked if she had complained about anything. I mentioned the "burning" when I brushed her teeth (and again when I gave her orange juice for breakfast), and mentioned the blister under her tongue. So, the doc looked in her mouth, and immediately said, "ahhhh. Come here, Mom. I want you to see this." Little blisters were EVERYWHERE. All along the back of mouth and throat and tongue. Something I could have seen, if I had looked with a flashlight at home. She was diagnosed with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (not to be confused with Hoof&Mouth in animals). Basically a rash can develop in the mouth and on the hands and feet and a high fever, though the rash may or may not show up at the same time or at all. She didn't have anything on her hands and feet, so we were sent home with nothing other than to continue to take Tylenol/Motrin to help her feel better, and avoid drinks that "burn." It is apparently very common in kids under age 10 and very contagious. Luckily, Jesse and I had been attempting to keep Ryleigh away from Wesley, since we didn't know what she had. If Wesley were to get it, the scary part would be making sure his fever did not get too high, as his little body might not handle a high fever as well as her body.

The next day, Ryleigh was acting a little better, though still sensitive to whatever went in her mouth. Jesse left to go out of town for a week, and I was trying to keep two kids away from each other, while caring for both of their needs. That night as I got Ryleigh out of the bath, I noticed she itched her foot. I looked down to see that the rash had arrived, in full force, covering both feet (the soles looked worse) and most of her calves.

(The quality of this picture is not very good. She did not sit still real well for me to take a picture, as you can imagine.)

The next day, the rash appeared on her hands, though not as severe as her feet and mouth, thank goodness. She was no longer contagious, Wesley appeared to have missed it, and we needed out of our house! So we went to my parent's house for a couple of days while Jesse was out of town. It was a good visit for everyone, I think. And Ryleigh recovered enough to attend her Valentine's Day party at school a week later.

So, about valentines. I'm not a big fan of the holiday, myself, but any chance for the kiddos to have something fun at school is cool with me. I thought it would be fun to make Ryleigh's valentines this year and give out to her friends. Yeah, they looked MUCH different (and better0 in my head. I had her color one side of the paper, and then I added a few finishing touches to make them look like post cards....only, they totally don't look like post cards. They look like cheesy, horrible attempts. Apparently my creativity does not spill over into active results. Next year, I'll just buy the cute ones instead and save time, effort, and frustration over my lack of perfection.

Want to know something else crazy? I signed up to bring heart-shaped PB&J sandwiches for the class party. The reason I signed up for these? Because I have all the "supplies" on hand, due to the fact that Ryleigh refuses to eat them. So guess the first thing her teacher said to me when I picked her up? "Ryleigh sure LOVED your sandwiches! She ate three for lunch!!" Umm, WHAT? You mean, Miss Picky Eater at home, goes to school and eats the one thing I have tried to get her to eat for over a year, without fuss? Amazing. Now she asks for them at lunch...and dinner...and occasionally even breakfast, though her go-to meal is still the "ce-weal ba."

Ryleigh is going to be three in a few short months. I absolutely cannot believe it. She is my favorite friend and my biggest headache. I have the most fun times with her, and the most frustrating. She makes me laugh like no one else, and also cry. She is growing up, and yet still my baby.

Anyway, I'm off on a tangent, and I need to get moving! Hopefully you feel a little more caught up on my active toddler. She's a hand full, for sure, but a sweet and fun girl I would not trade for anything in the world.