The Culprit

Earlier this week I told you that my boy Doop was sick. Here is what happened. On Tuesday afternoon I received a phone call at work from my mom. She said that Doop had a fever, he was complaining that his stomach hurt and he had a rash on his arms, neck, and face. She said that she had given him Tylenol and that all he wanted to do was lay around and watch tv. Clearly he wasn't feeling well because this isn't like Doop at all. I finished up work and headed home and continued to give him Tylenol, but his rash became progressively worse. I racked my brain trying to think of what could have caused this, and then I remembered. On Monday night JM sprayed our grass with weed and feed. We were all outside because it was a nice day. Lou was playing jump rope, and Seej and I were on the side of the house with Doop. Doop decided that he wanted to see what JM was doing and ventured out into the grass in his flip flops. We immediately removed him from the grass and I brought him inside to have a bath and wash his feet off. I didn't think anything else about it until this rash came, but why was it on his arms, neck and face? He did have a little on his ankles, but nothing compared to the other areas. I decided on Wednesday to have him soak in the tub with baking soda to see if it would help. Although he still had the rash when he got out of the tub it did look much better. He still complained of a tummy ache, so I set him up in the bed to rest. This is what he looked like.

This is part of his arm. Both arms looked like this up to his sleeve.

After leaving him alone to rest for a short time, I came back into the room only to find him looking worse.

A lot worse! I couldn't figure it out, and then it clicked. Check out the first picture again. What does he have right next to his face? His dadgum blanket! When I came back into the room he was sucking his thumb and rubbing his face with his blanket. So I asked him about his blanket, and he eventually confessed that on Monday night when venturing out into the grass that he had dropped it in the "wet stuff". Wow! He had it with him the whole time. No wonder it was getting so bad.

Here it is. The culprit! The solution to the mystery. The blanket that he has been dragging around since he was old enough to drag one. This piece of material that was once a beautiful pink soft blanket that I received as a gift prior to Seej joining our family. The blanket that both of my girls hated and would have nothing to do with, and the blanket that JM now detests. As you can see by the rather large hole in the center that Doop absolutely loves it. We don't leave home without it, and he wouldn't think of sleeping without it by his side. This lovely blanket was now covered in Weed and Feed and making my boy sick. Ugh! How could I have missed this? I decided the guilt trip would have to wait until later since a trip to the Dr. was more important.

I am happy to report that after an initial trip to the InstaCare, and eventually a trip to the ER little Doop is doing better. Don't let this picture below fool you. He has short periods of time when the rash looks good, and then it returns to the bright red mess that you saw earlier. Oh yeah, if he gets upset it looks really bad! The Dr. said even with medication it would take another week to 10 days to get it out of his system enough for the rash to leave completely. How scary. I am so grateful that Doop is okay, and although he hasn't been feeling well both physicians that treated him got a kick out of his hilarious personality. He was animated even under these circumstances. Although the Dr. said I didn't need to lock him in the house the next time JM sprays the lawn, trust me we will be watching from the window!