Apparently Maddie has scarlet fever. The only difference between that and strep throat is a sand paper like rash which she has. We discovered this yesterday when random rashes started appearing on her stomach. She had the same kind of rash in her diaper area a few days ago, but I assumed that it was diaper rash, and it went away about the time that this new rash on her stomach appeared. The doctor had told us that she could have scarlet fever and the rash is what he told us to look for on Charlotte because that would present first. Wonderful. So far Charlotte has not gotten sick and at this point Maddie is not contagious, so maybe Charlie will continue to be healthy.
We are pretty strict in our house when it comes to food, and so far it hasn't ever been an issue. Maddie is a really good eater and loves all types of foods. She basically eats anything we put in front of her. I credit this attitude to the fact that I started with veggie baby foods long before sweet fruits and I don't pressure her at all to eat anything that I set in front of her. But....the catch is that I only make one breakfast/lunch/dinner and that’s it. I don't make her eat it, but if she doesn't want it, that’s fine, but she doesn't eat. Period. There are no crackers or peanut butter and jelly or apples instead, and if later she comes to me and is hungry, then she gets her breakfast/lunch/dinner that I have lovingly wrapped up and put in the fridge to eat. I don't however keep food for her the entire day and make her eat her breakfast for dinner, once breakfast time is over and lunch time officially starts, then she can have lunch, but only what I have planned for lunch. Like I said it hasn't really ever been an issue because Maddie has a healthy appetite and likes pretty much everything. I learned early on, and from other people's experiences that she WILL NOT starve, she will not let herself get to that point, she WILL eat eventually and most often kids refusing to eat is them exerting their independence and having control over pretty much the only thing that they can actually control....you can make them bathe, take a nap, go where you want them to go, wear what you put on them, but they do not have to eat, and you can't make them!!!
However, when she is sick, our rules change a lot and since a sick kid naturally eats less and sometimes nothing at all, we try everything we can to get food into her. Especially when she has a sore throat; we offer pudding and ice cream and popsicles and soup and graham crackers...pretty much anything we think that she would like an extra lot and actually eat. This time around she really hasn't eaten anything, the day before yesterday she had 2 pretzels and 2 crackers and that was all the food she had for 24 hours. So, we tried to force her to eat because we were getting really worried, and eating something would be better than us needing to take her to the hospital because she is dehydrated and undernourished and not getting better. I tried spooning soup and pudding and ice cream into her mouth all while she was covering her mouth and crying. Anything that I got in there she would spit out. It's been that way for a couple days now. Yesterday we could tell that she was feeling better, and today I know for sure that she is feeling better because she is almost acting like normal....I'm sure that her tonsils are still swollen, but it does not appear that it hurts nearly as much as before. She is talking and playing and drinking juice and making messes. What she is not doing, is eating. I stopped trying to force her to eat because it got to the point where if I even put her in her chair at the table, she would start crying....it didn't matter what I was trying to get her to eat, she just flat out refused to eat. So I stopped making it an issue and figured that when she felt better she would eat. She feels better.....still not eating and it pisses me off. I asked her if she wanted some eggs this morning and she said "eggs, yeah" so I scramble 2 eggs, I add herbs and cheese and toast a piece of sourdough toast and cut it into bite sized squares. I get Maddie into her chair and she will not take a bite. She cries like I am torturing her. I made her sit in the chair for 5 minutes because I went to all the trouble of making her breakfast, and then I let her down. She didn't eat any of it. I'm really over this battle of wills that she has going on right now. I don't care if she eats or not....I mean I do because she needs food to help her get better and keep her body fueled, but its less work for me if she chooses not to eat, it's just really annoying when I go through the work to prepare something for her and she gets all stubborn and refuses to eat. So, I'm done. I'm not going to offer food anymore; when she is hungry she can come to me. We're going back to our normal food rules and she is going to get over this tude that she thinks she gets to have.
Other than that, Maddie is doing better. She doesn't look like a zombie anymore and she is sleeping through the night and napping better. On a not so fantastic note, Charlotte hasn't pooped for 8 days; this is the longest she has ever gone. Normally she goes at 6 or 7 days. And she is super cranky.
I need a day off.
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