Always Something

Right before I left work yesterday, Westchester was hit with a horrendous storm. This included torrential rain, loud lightning, close thunder, and pebble-sized hail. I looked outside, noted my lack of an umbrella in my cube, and removed the spare garbage bag from my garbage can to use as protection. When I got to the door of the office building, and actually saw the rain and the flooding it was producing up close, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. The bag was like using a torn receipt buried in my purse to clean up baby puke - ineffective, inefficient, and essentially useless.

I ran to my car, fortunately parked relatively close by, in my open-toed, high-heeled sandals while getting pelted with hail. Ah, the joy. Fortunately, as I drove toward home the rain seemed to disappear, heading in a true north direction as opposed to the "north" of Connecticut (look at a map of CT, to me it runs east-west, to natives it is configured north-south). I was relieved to arrive at LP's day care by 5:15 welcomed by clear skies. Good, because I wasn't sure how I was going to get her from the building to the car if it was pouring.

I get into the classroom and LP's teacher tells me that my baby girl has recently developed a rash. Internally I am thinking "Oh, it must be the usual redness she gets on her sensitive skin that fades in five minutes," then, I look at her belly. She has this big, ugly, swollen blob on her little gut. And a smaller patch of it on her elbow and both of her knees. Oy!

I pack her up quick as a bunny and call the pediatrician. After I confirm for them that it is not chicken pox (whew!) they give me a 5:45 appointment. We head right over and arrive by 5:25. I am relieved to report that LP is suffering from an allergic reaction to something. Most likely a cleaning product or something on the floor in day care, since it is in places that would touch the floor when she hurries about while crawling.

Today, despite the heat, my little muffin is wearing a onesie and light, long pants, to protect all of her sensitive spots until they heal. Hopefully whatever she reacted to will abate while we are camping and life will return to normal. And by "normal" I mean "life where we react to one adventure after another."