My niece who is in her 30’s had HFM when she was a toddler (southern WI area) but DDs never had it in our area (N AL).
Walking pneumonia and Whooping Cough are hitting campus areas and schools in some areas in AL. Many on this thread may not have grandchildren old enough to need the booster of TDAP which would cover Whooping Cough for older teens/early 20’s. When a student is in college, one doesn’t want them to miss lots of classes due to these contagious diseases - and especially if it can be avoided with vaccine protection like TDAP.
‘The cesspool of germs’ - it happens with kids at colleges too.
My oldest D (she’s 40) had HFM when she was in 8th grade. I diagnosed it and called our pediatrician–he thought I was nuts. I brought her in and, sure enough, she had HFM. As I recall, it’s a nasty disease.
I remember my daughter (34) having HFM when she was maybe a year old. Her only real symptom was drooling a lot. Her son (2) got it last year and had a few spots on his chin, a couple on his hand and maybe one on his foot. My daughter’s husband got it from the 2 year old and was really miserable.
When Chickenpox went through my kids daycare, one little girl didn’t get it, and the theory was (her dad was a physician) that she had an active case of HFM and maybe that prevented the chickenpox from taking hold.
Well Twin A has progressed from walking pneumonia to full on pneumonia. Thankfully she’s started antibiotics and should be feeling better in a couple of days.
I’ve had regular pneumonia and walking pneumonia. Both are unpleasant but I believe regular pneumonia is more contagious. Hope the twin is soon fully recovered—and doesn’t share.
I had HFM when my kids were young. It’s one of my most remembered memories of feeling horribly sick.
When one of my grandsons had it he got his Dad sick. Dad was miserable. My granddaughter also gave HFM to her Dad. He has RA and is on an immune suppressant and he was very sick. @WayOutWestMom hope your granddaughter feels her antibiotics working soon and she is back running around.
GS had his first time having to be picked up early from dsy care because of illness. Pretty sure he successfully passed it all of the adults around him. Our D is solo parenting this weekend so DW spent the day hanging out her and our GS so she could rest
The joy of being close. I am writing this with a napping child on my chest. I texted my D if she wanted help this afternoon and she said yes. So I am doing naptime again today
A couple of weeks ago we offered to babysit older GD a few times during her Thanksgiving break since we won’t get to see the GDs on Thanksgiving. D replied yes, but only for one day. We didn’t ask again because we thought D would be home and wanted time with the GDs. It turns out she’s working. SiL contacted us early this morning asking, “Aren’t you going to babysit today? Older GD asked if she could come over. I thought you were going to babysit.” He rarely reads texts and hardly ever responds, so often has no clue about plans.
We scrambled to dress and prep then pick up GD. I reminded SiL that we’re scheduled to have younger GD tomorrow and asked if he wanted us to take older GD, too. Of course, he said yes. That makes three days this week.
We’ll be exhausted, especially after the little wildcat tomorrow, but we love it. I’m taking a few minutes to put my feet up while H is keeping GD company. That won’t be possible tomorrow. If only I were about 15 years younger.
@Silpat they are lucky to have you. You’re an inspiration to many of us to do what we have to do to be involved with the grandkids.
We will have the local grandchildren for Thanksgiving. Three under 3, juggling naps is always a challenge. One of the kids has some food allergies which will mean we will have to be diligent about watching out for him and washing our hands after eating dairy.
@happy1 and @mom60, thank you but I think we’re the lucky ones. We didn’t expect to be able to have children and beat the odds. S and DiL do not intend to have children, and D showed no interest in marriage or children until she was in her mid-30s. We kept hearing from friends that grandchildren are the best part of their lives and while we’re happy for them, we were determined to not express our hopes to our kids.
H and I hadn’t decided where we’d live once he retired. As soon as we heard about older GD, we both knew we wanted to move here. My maternal grandmother was the main source of love and affection during my childhood. I hope I can provide our granddaughters with the same feeling of unconditional love. I do correct them when necessary, just as she did with me, but try to focus on the positive.
@mom60, I’m sorry about your grandson’s food allergies. That can be tough on a child, and on the family. Older GD has one intolerance problem (not as serious as an allergy, but it can cause miserable GI distress.) I was pleased recently to hear her talk about how it’s handled in kindergarten. She was very matter of fact about it and happy with her substitute treat. Schools seem much more aware of these issues now.
Tomorrow is Grandparents’ Day at the twin’s preschool. There’s a breakfast for the grandparents at 7:40am, followed by a program put on by the preschoolers and an [optional] early dismissal at 10:30am.
After the girls are in the car, I’ll go get GS for an early dismissal for him.
We have tickets to go see Moana 2 Wednesday morning (opening day, first show. Hey… I didn’t buy the tix–SIL did. If it were up to me, I’d just wait 3 months until it’s on Disney +.) It’s hard to say who most excited about the movie–Twin A or GS. (He has his own Moana necklace that he wears everywhere except to sleep and in the bathtub.)
I’ll let you know how it all goes.
Thursday will be Friendsgiving. We’re having 4 guests-- friends/colleagues of D1 and/or SIL. And all of them are vegan/vegetarians so I have no excuse to cook a turkey breast.
S’s family arrives in town tomorrow and I have tickets for his family, Nashville GD & myself to see Moana 2 as well. Like @WayOutWestMom, I am shocked by prices for advance tickets, but this is a chance to let all 3 GDs experience something together (our whole family is only together about twice each year). D isn’t going with us as she has the day off and plans to cook & prepare for Thursday as we’ll all be eating at her house. At 15 months, GS will spend the full day at daycare. I suspect SIL will be on procurement duty as he is planning to smoke a duck on Thursday (don’t ask me why), but has ordered a smoked turkey from a local bbq.
When I was a kid, I never understood people who proclaimed Thanksgiving their favorite holiday as I was convinced Christmas was best based on receiving presents. Now I get it - family & good food can make for wonderful time. I have spent a number of Thanksgivings by myself as kids went in the direction of their in-laws, so planning to try to savor this one, chaos and all.
We will also be seeing Moana with the 2 GDs on Friday. I thought I was taking them alone, but my D announced that both she and her husband wanted to go, so it is the 5 of us. My S and DIL will stay home while their S naps, and I am sure the parents will also nap!
The theater by my house only had one row available with 5 seats at the time we wanted to go. I was a bit surprised how many advance seats were already sold on Monday for Friday, but know these kids all need to get out of the house; they have been out of school all week!
Obviously great minds are thinking alike, @snowball, as our seats are on the 2nd row. Only way I could get 6 together that weren’t front row. Not where I like to sit, but most of theater was already reserved. I’m used to meeting a friend for “old lady” movies at first showing on Tuesdays and sitting wherever I want
Our seats are on the last row, but with the reclining seats and theater size, I much prefer the back row to the first row, especially with the little ones!
