I'm calling it! The last blister is scabbing over. It's not the hardest scab, but it's definitely a soft scab: I never thought I'd think so much about scabs in my life.
The last scab was on his foot and would not dry up. On Day 8 I discovered that one shouldn't bathe children with chicken pox as it prolongs the spots and increases their number. Hmm, if everyone knows that why did no one tell me?! Ok, they thought I knew, but clearly, I'm not everyone! I missed that 'Life skills 101' lecture. In the end, I left him in his bare feet to try to dry out the blister and that seems to have done the trick.
James has moved on from thinking he has stickers on his face. He knows it's the chicken pox. He told our friend Gina, "Jayes chicken puck" the other day!
It's wonderful that James has now had the only 'big' childhood illness (in my day we had mumps, measles, the works!). I've been very reluctant to bring him out before the final blister scabbed not for other children, but for those with weakened immune systems. My mum's immune system is as delicate as a fairy sitting on top of a tree in a hurricane. I hated the thought of him spluttering and inadvertently making someone so frail ill, knowing how much illness takes out of Mum. Now, freedom beckons.
There have been several rather cute incidents over the past days that I thought I'd share. I am a big fan of manners, I believe they make social interactions easier in an increasingly impatient epoque. So 'please', 'thank you', and 'sorry' feature highly in our house.
The other day I accidentally knocked him with the door, he had got between me and the door and I hadn't seen him. "Sorry James", I said. He clearly thought it was his cue to apologise, "Sorry de door" came the response from below!
Yesterday, he uttered his first sentence. Correctly. [read: he's a genius!] Up until then - and since - he combines names and nouns or adjectives. 'Jayes, apple', or 'how 'bout 'nana Mama'. Yesterday he brought me a picture and said, "Mama, look at that". I'm so proud!
He's also absorbing Flemish. This morning I was talking about the hand towel and he informed me it was an 'aandhook' - the Flemish for hand towel. I didn't know he knew that!
My final anecdote is also from this morning. He was playing with a mummy horse and a baby horse, but unlike other times, he was talking for them. Here's the conversation I overheard:
"Mama, how 'bout chocolate?"
"No."
"Mmm... how 'bout apple?"
Sounds exactly like a conversation at home!
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