Over the summer I had the opportunity to care for a cute little guy. I shared this with a friend of mine. She would watch him two days a week and I would watch him for two days. He was a cute and good little boy. Summer was coming to an end and I actually enjoyed having a bit of my own money to contribute to some things - like Rylie's braces.
I decided to try to find another care situation that would work for me and my family. I found one that I thought would work well. It was only 9 hours a week and this little boy would come after the kids were gone to school and leave before they came home. Well... I had this little boy for only two days and knew that this was not going to be an ideal situation. On only the 2nd day of watching him, he was brought to my house sick. Sure, we (they) thought it was ONLY a cold. Still, I have small children AND I'm pregnant. So the whole time he was here that day I was following him every second while wiping up the mess as he smeared his yucky nose mucus up his arm and across his face-- Immediately followed by a dose of hand gel. As soon as he left I set to work to disinfect all the toys. Well, apparently that was not enough. Two days later Emorie started getting symptoms, followed by the rest of the family. Apparently it wasn't ONLY a cold. Emorie started whining and refused to eat and drank little. Finally after three days we'd had enough and tried to figure out what was up. She had a blister on her tongue a little bigger than a dime. We thought she'd bitten her tongue. We put some orajel on it and she actually ate a little. Yesterday Rylie told me her tongue hurt and upon inspection, she too had some little blisters. I called the doctor's office and luckily they had some appointments this morning (on a Saturday... yeah!) Well, looks like we were actually exposed to Coxsackie Virus (more commonly known as Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease). Even I have a mild case which concerns me as I am pregnant. Fortunately, since I'm in my second trimester the doctor said I shouldn't worry too much but to talk to my OB if I experience anything abnormal (oh, like contractions, or bleeding, or no fetal movement). Just great! Poor Rylie has blisters under her tongue, on the roof of her mouth, and down her throat.
I guess making a little bit of extra money is definitely not worth it at this point and having more kids come to my house (as a caregiver situation) is out of the question for a while - like a couple of years!
It wasn't just the sickness thing either that made me decide to quit watching him. This little boy was only 2 1/2 years old. I couldn't get him to stop throwing toys or running in the house. He also continuously was saying, "Oh my G*d!" I was shocked that this was coming from a 2-yr-old. I guess I wasn't prepared for that either and I wasn't going to allow Emorie to be exposed to that right now.
Thanks for letting me vent!
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