Late at night when your sleepin'........

Yesterday Caleb's face started looking kind of red and splotchy around noon. "Hhhhmm, that is weird. No big deal though.", I thought to myself. By that evening it was worse. Then we discovered that his torso was also covered in this familiar-looking rash and that there was even a visible hand print right on his stomach just the size of his own little hand.

What in the world? How could he have that much poison ivy in January?
Surely it has to be something else.

After some interrogation, I learned that on Wednesday, when he and the neighbor-kid were having a campfire in our backyard fire pit, they decided to tear a few vines off the trees and throw them on the fire. I will admit that they had gotten my permission to build the fire.....I was watching them out the window, they had the hose out just in case, and it entertained them for HOURS. I just missed the whole burning poison ivy thing somehow. Caleb's top half was covered in it and Adam had a patch on his back.

After a good dose of benedryl ( which was a whole 'nother story...you know the Caleb-medicine struggle) the boys went to bed and fell into deep sleep.
Then at about 4am, I heard Caleb at my bedside saying, "Mama, I can't see."
"uh, turn on the light."
"I already did."
Yep, his eyes were little swollen slits at this point. Poor guy.
He really didn't seem too uncomfortable so I put him back to bed and laid awake worrying until morning about what I should do with him. There was no way I could get him to the doctor for some sort of shot on my own, because we had check-ups this week and the boys got flu shots. Caleb had to be held down by four nurses and I was very worried that he was going to injure at least one of them in the process of it all. The kid is 57 lbs of pure muscle and fight when he wants to be. So, anyhow, a shot seemed like an impossibility.

After talking with the doctor and a few more doses of benedryl, the swelling has now subsided and he just looks like a regular kid........ with poison ivy all over his face.

I am finding this is how life works with two sons.

It's always somethin'.



FYI:
Myth: Poison ivy is contagious.
Reality: You can't spread poison ivy by coming into contact with a person who has it, unless that person has urushiol on their skin. You can, however, pick it up by touching a dog that has gotten poison ivy on its fur, or by touching the blade of a weed whacker that you just used to cut down the plants.

**I would also like to add another interesting poison ivy tidbit. I started getting it constantly the summer after I had Caleb (along with other allergies as well). Someone told me to eat a new leaf in the spring because it works something like a vaccine and you won't get it that year.
I did it. I did not get poison ivy for four years straight and have only had a couple of patches since. (I only ate one leaf one time) Put that in your pipe and smoke it.