The Healing Power of Popsicles

Mia was sick this past week. At first, we thought she had the Hand, Foot and Mouth virus (or, as my neighbor Brian calls it, Mad Cow) because she was exposed to it. This starts with a high fever, followed by blisters in the mouth and ends with a rash on the hands and feet. It's pretty common in babies. On Wednesday, she had a high fever. Her little cheeks were red all day because she was so hot and she just laid around and slept. On Friday, she woke up with red bumps in the back of her throat and could barely eat anything all day. Her strep test was negative, so the doctor said it definitely looked like the Hand, Foot and Mouth virus. But, she never broke out in the rash. Instead, she got a bad cold over the weekend. So, I'm not so sure that's what it was.
With her not eating much, I bought her some popsicles thinking they would feel good on her throat. And, since her friends couldn't come in the house to play because she was sick, we invited them to sit outside and have popsicles. At first, Mia couldn't quite figure out the concept of the popsicle. She had it turned upside down and was biting on the stick. After some help, she figured out how to get the sweet stuff without freezing her teeth. The crazy thing is the next day, she woke up feeling completely back to normal - her appetite was back, there was no runny nose, no coughing, sneezing, etc. It was the popsicles!