Laying Low

We've had a few quiet weeks since Christmas, which has eased the reintroduction of our routines.  Evelyn's piano lessons and ballet class have started again, Malcolm and I are back to our Wednesday morning playgroup, and have added one of our favourite activities - Toddlertime at the Library with Margaret - to our roster.  The Ducklings have had a relatively smooth transition back to school, but that has been thwarted somewhat by illness (more on that later).

We had our first PD day of the year on Friday, and with my mother and Myriam in charge of the home front, I actually went grocery shopping by myself.  I had about a month where I either went with all 3 boys in tow (which went swimmingly until I had to make an emergency bathroom run on a different floor), or with Evelyn and/or Malcolm or some combination of the above.   

Myriam brought out the playdough and an impressive collection of toys which were greatly enjoyed by everyone.

Keith in full creative mode

Colin concentrating

Peek-a-boo

What do you mean I can't eat this?

The dog didn't listen to my advice and ate a lot of playdough, which reappeared shortly thereafter.  He spent the rest of the day guzzling water and needing to go outside RIGHT NOW!!  I would like to think he learned his lesson, but this might be asking a little to much self-awareness from an animal who is terrified of any person he knows and loves who is - gasp - wearing a hat.  He recognizes the person, but not the alarming, brain-sucking creature sitting on their head.

I digress.

Friday was also the day we managed, by sheer luck, to get Evelyn seen at our pediatrician's after hours clinic because in the bath, we noticed this:

It turns out that Evelyn likely had a reaction to the penicillin she was given to treat the ear infection she developed the previous week.  Keith was concurrently on penicillin, also for an ear infection, and midway through his treatment, he too developed a really odd rash.  It looked like someone had taken a thick red marker and drawn a line around his chest, back and upper arms.  I didn't think much of it, until Evelyn's rash appeared a few days later.  We're assuming that Colin is, or will be, similarly allergic.

Truly, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner, because I've had a penicillin allergy since I was their age.  We'll have them conclusively tested by the allergist when we get their tree nut and peanut sensitivities re-tested in a year or two.  We're VERY fortunate that despite our near constant state of illness, we haven't had anything severe since Keith's bout with pneumonia last winter - so we haven't had too many occasions to require antibiotics.  Let's hope our good luck holds!