Wednesday, June 13, 2012

End of year fun... with one minor glitch

Today was Liam's end-of-year field trip. The kids went to Greenview Aviaries and I was lucky enough to be able to take the day off to join them. (There was quite a large parent turnout - I'm still not sure at what point parents stop attending these things. I don't really recall a lot of parent chaperones on field trips when I was a kid, but maybe I just didn't pay attention to them.)
The weather was great and it was an awesome day. I think the kids would have spent more time in the splash pad had it been a little warmer, but there was lots of other stuff to keep everyone busy. The time flew by. We easily could have spent more time watching the animals and we only covered a fraction of the playground.
The zipline was the biggest hit with everyone. It's probably just about the oldest piece of equipment there and it's built out of rotting wood, rusty cables, and a loop of rope to put your foot through. I'm sure it's going to fall apart any day now. And when it does, it's going to go down with kids all over it - they can't get enough.
We did have a big damper on our day. Liam's arms and legs are positively covered in what is best described as something akin to poison ivy. He came home from school yesterday covered in an itchy, red, blistery looking rash. It's especially bad on his forearms, but goes all the way up to his shoulders and on his legs it goes up to his crotch. Nothing on his face or trunk. The only guess I have for what happened is that he has taken to playing soccer at recess each day, and yesterday he lost his ball in the cedar hedge that runs along the edge of the school yard, and he had to go in to retrieve it. He's been in the cedars before and never reacted like this, but maybe there is something else growing back there? I feel awful for him. I've been dosing him with Benadryl and swabbing the worst spots with  calamine lotion, but I am not sure that it is helping any.
The rash is making him miserable, and the Benadryl is making him tired - so tired that he fell asleep on the bus in both directions. So I'm sorry that this had to coincide with his fun day. This morning I asked whether he wanted to stay home from school, given how miserable he seemed, but he looked horrified at the prospect. So we went on the field trip and faced the stares from some of the other kids who were convinced that he has chicken pox. Here's hoping a good night's sleep helps and he wakes up feeling much better tomorrow.

1 comment:

jenn said...

Poor little dude! An oatmeal soak might make him feel better...Aveeno makes one you can find at Shoppers (or anywhere, really) but it is just oatmeal - put some (not instant) in the food pro and you've got the same thing! Maybe move tomorrow nights reading time to the tub!