Quarantine

Well, I don't know if daycare is getting any easier. Mainly because we haven't been there! The Terrors went on Monday, and loved it. Loved, loved, loved it. They went on Tuesday, and I didn't cry. They again had the best time ever. And then. Tuesday evening, we noticed a rash of sorts on Girl Terror's legs. It looked a bit like insect bites, but not quite. Perhaps chicken pox, but she's had the shot and these spots had no blisters. An allergic reaction? To what?!
I checked my daycare manual. Just as I suspected, children with undiagnosed rashes are not welcome. I called Wendi (daycare lady), and told her Girl Terror would be absent, and we would just keep Boy Terror home as well. If a parent has to be home from work, might as well have both kids.
Wednesday, Hubby stayed home with Boy Terror, watching for spots, and I took Girl Terror to Out Patients. The doc on duty, the nurse, and a doctor who was passing by all looked at my poor polka dotted girl. By now, the spots were everywhere except her face and back. The unanimous conclusion? "Mystery spots". No clue. They looked it up in books. They hummed and hawed. Finally, they said to go home, wash all her bedding and the clothes she'd been wearing, and come back late afternoon.
I dropped Girl Terror off at home, and went back to work for a few hours. Later, we met up with our own family doctor in out patients. He was mystified. I told him "I MUST have a diagnosis, or she can't go back to daycare! School starts next week, and I have to be there! I can't call in sick on my first day!" He laughed at me and said "No daycare". He gave us a diagnosis of "rash from unknown causes" and said "She might be contagious. She might not be. I guess time will tell! Bring her in to see me tomorrow if she's not better".
Today, Boy Terror went to daycare, blessedly spot free. So far. He didn't seem to mind going alone. In fact, I don't think he even noticed. Hubby went to work, and Girl Terror and I went to my school. She played, and coloured, wrote on the chalkboard, and watched me photocopy, plan, and move desks. Before lunch we went to see the doctor, who is still stumped. The best he can come up with is a guess: Perhaps her chicken pox vaccine was not 100%, and this is a modified, mutated form of chicken pox. She doesn't itch, but the spots are starting to look very poxy. Hmmmm. He's treating it as a viral infection, and we will just watch and wait. In the meantime, no daycare until the spots go away. And if Boy Terror is going to get it, it will show up anytime in the next three weeks.
This cannot be the best way to start a new job, a new day care, or a new school year. At least she's perfectly fine (other than the bright red spots). She's dancing all over the place, whipping up her shirt to show anyone who asks to see the spots, and talking non-stop about Little Bear, and when he got the spots, and when Mummy was little, and she had the spots, and on and on and on....