Well the boys made it not quite two weeks at the day care before they caught their first virus that kept them home. Owen woke from his nap over a weekend with a rash over his body. I attributed it to heat rash as it had been a hot week and both boys had spent a lot of time outside. There was no fever or change in appetite or lethargy and it wasn’t itchy, Owen was completely normal except for the rash. Monday morning he woke and still had the rash, hummm….now children cannot attend day care with an undiagnosed skin rash. This meant that Brandon could go but someone had to stay home with Owen until we got him into the doctor. Sean had a few Family Care days left; mine were all used up from the H1N1 virus last fall and was able to stay home with Owen. I think Dad quite enjoyed his day home with Owen, they built train tracks and raced trains, went to Tim Horton’s and then did the doctor duty too. The doctor said it was merely a viral rash and that once the rash appeared it was no longer contagious. It was pretty normal to see in children just starting in a day care or school. Since Owen’s rash had progressed to his face, the doctor advised that Owen should stay home until it clears from his face, that meant anther day home with Dad. By Wednesday the “spots” were all gone and Owen was very excited to go to day care and see his friends.
Wednesday morning the day care called and now Brandon had the rash. Same deal, Brandon must be diagnosed by a doctor before he could return to day care. I picked Owen and Brandon up from day care that day and got off easy, as they boys both napped all afternoon. We found with Brandon he seemed a little more tired than usual and a little more cranky but at his age there were a long list of reasons for this outside of the rash. Thursday Daddy got to stay home with Brandon, using up his last Family Care day, and again enjoyed the day with just Brandon, building train tracks and stacking towers and then watching them fall and of course doing the doctor duty….again. Same old story from the doctor, Owen gave the rash to Brandon, the plus side of it was that both boys are now immune to this rash!
By Friday both Owen and Brandon were at day care together. Owen was excited that his brother’s “spots” were gone and that he’d have his brother with him at day care to play with.