Term One: Week One ~ First Week of School and More Foot Dramas

Our first week of the 2021 school year was NOTHING what I planned or expected it would be. As the week progressed it became obvious that we had more issues with Munchkin, this time with his foot and his hands. What I thought was just a mosquito bite (that dark red circle in the middle of his arch) spread to become what you see in the photo below... but we chalked it up to some kind of reaction to the bite and decided to watch it.

This photo doesn't show it very well but little red bumps were starting to form on his fingers of both hands. This photo and the one above of his foot were taken Sunday 31st of January. We took him to an after hours clinic at a nearby private hospital and they diagnosed that the infection from his leg hadn't had enough antibiotics and had spread to his foot. 

Despite all the skin dramas we started school as planned and scheduled on Monday 1st February, with the minor change of an appointment with our family doctor for Munchkin. 

Proof that all this was taking a toll on Munchkin... he NEVER naps during the day.

Wrapping his fingers with sport tape somehow helped with the itching... and working on papercraft helped him stay distracted and not itch... so I cancelled what little written school work he had for the first week of school (holding a pen or pencil bothered his fingers anyway) and just let him work on crafty projects.

More photos of his hands and foot... eventually he developed blisters on his foot that would weep.

Soaking his hands and foot in ice water helped with the itching... and more creative time on the computer.

Meanwhile Monster worked independently on his assigned work in the office...

I discovered a stack of drawings on the coffee table that Monkey drew recently...

Monkey worked well on his math at the dining table... all things being equal the older boys got a fair bit of schoolwork done in the midst of all the drama and schedule upheaval.

Another batch of photos... this time showing that the bumps on his hands (fingers especially) were also developing blisters so clearly this was more than just a recurring infection. Yet another trip to the doctor and we finally had a new diagnosis... dyshydrotic eczema!! Click on the name of the eczema to bring up information about it. 

I found this strange plant growing in our garden (our landlord planted it some time ago) and decided to start watching it to see what happens.

Munchkin playing Plants vs Zombies while having a wet dressing on his foot (you can just see that the foot lying on the floor has a bandage on it). With the diagnosis of the eczema came immediate relief of a lot of the symptoms. His combined treatment plan included: oral Prednisone for three days and twice daily treatments of prescription cortisone cream on his foot and hands with a wet dressing applied for thirty minutes! The itching had been driving him literally insane so it was a blessing to have marked relief from that drama.

Our week finished off with a family night out with my brother-in-law and his two boys to watch a cricket match. I had never watched a live game before and it was a really enjoyable evening.

Our book selection this week is slim... looking forward to a more normal routine so we can do more reading!!

Summer School Holidays: Week Six ~ Healing Wound, Photography and Books

The summer holidays always seem to fly past and this year is no exception. Here we are at the very last week of our summer break. We even took an extra week off and they still went fast. Most public and private schools will be starting these school year sometime this week, after the Australia Day Public holiday on Tuesday, but starting a school year in the middle of the week is hard so we generally don't attempt it anymore. It works much better for the boys and me to start fresh on a Monday with a full week in front of us.

The Munchkin's leg and foot continue to heal despite ceasing his round of antibiotics on the Friday morning previous. I texted these photos to our family doctor and when I didn't hear anything back, took that to mean he was happy with the progress and we didn't need to attend his clinic for a review appointment.

I made a concerted attempt this week to get outside and take some photographs. I always enjoy photography after some rain!

By Saturday it became apparent that there were still some issues with Munchkin... but this time only in his foot! By the time we noticed that the issue was something more than just one simple mosquito bite on the bottom of his foot (that dark scab in the middle of his arch) our doctor was closed for the weekend. So the plan was to watch him carefully through the weekend and go back to the doctor Monday morning...

Munchkin spent a LOT of his last week of holidays reading...

We finished Auggie & Me as our read aloud, and Monster finished The Secret World of Wombats as his independent read for the week. 

Munchkin reads a LOT... the remaining photos are ALL books that he read independently through the week. He probably spends a minimum of two hours per day reading!