Today is Valentine’s Day. My kids somehow seem as excited for this decidedly B-Team holiday as they usually are for its far grander counterparts of Christmas and Thanksgiving. So it was a little disappointing that my daughter had to spend the morning at the doctor’s office.
When she woke up she went into the bathroom and came out proclaiming “I have spots!”. So I looked and she did indeed have spots! Little red ones from head-to-toe. My first reaction was “Crap! Chicken Pox??”. I never had Chicken Pox when I was younger, something at the time that filled me with unabashed disappointment (a week off of school to watch Bob Barker every day?? Heaven!!). But upon closer inspection it looked like it was most likely just a rash that she had developed. Last week she had pink eye and an ear infection. The side effects of which apparently give kids herculean strength and olympic gymnast agility when it comes time to administration of eye and ear drops. Fortunately, the doctor confirmed that the rash was not serious but rather an allergic reaction to the medication she has been taking. The doctor informed us about children’s eye allergies.
My beautiful little girl now bore a slight resemblance to Pizza The Hut from Spaceballs (sans toppings). She was so looking forward to a fun Valentine’s Day spent at the park and feeding ducks (promises I had made earlier in the week). There was no way I was taking her out and about looking this way. She wasn’t contagious, but if I saw someone else’s child playing near mine looking like that, I’d scream plague and run home to boil my clothing and mutter incantations to ward off evil vapors. So she was on full on quarantine until it clears up.
Needless to say, my daughter was saddened by today’s turn of events. So my wife and I tried to make the best of the unfortunate situation. The remainder of the day we kept thanking her for being so psyched about Valentine’s Day that she turned red to show her love. It didn’t really work, but at least it made her laugh a little and brightened her day. It’s sad for me to see disappointment in my kids, but I hope that by keeping things light around the house at situations we could easily brood over, my kiddos learn to take things in stride and make the best of everything that’s thrown at them. Instead we stayed in, made paper crowns, had a royal lunch with decorations and announced entrances, played games and crafted more Valentine’s than I can count. All in all, my Valentine Dalmatian had a great day!