Fever Time and Potty Training

Josie, like me, has had a cold for about a month now. It is nothing serious, just snot galore. And she definitely does not have it as bad as I do. Chris is disgusted when I blow my nose because it goes on for about five minutes and a half dozen tissues. Josie doesn't do great with tissues yet and is refusing to let me use the Snot Sucker (as I call it) on her.

But she did have a weird period two weeks ago where she would randomly develop a fever. She'd wake up and be fine. She would eat her breakfast. Then within thirty minutes she would be shivering and huddling on the couch. This happened at home a couple times and a couple time at the sitter's house after she woke up from a nap. Tylenol helped and she slept fine at night. Her appetite diminished a little but not enough to worry. After the fourth round of this I caved and made an appointment with the doctor.

Surprisingly, Josie did have a fever at the appointment. Usually she is fine once I bring her in, making me feel like I'm an overprotective helicopter parent. Initially the doctor said Fifth Disease because along with the fever and cold symptoms, she also had a light rash on her tummy and a red area on her cheek (Fifth Disease is also called Slapped Cheek Syndrome). He started telling me to just wait it out and continue with Tylenol if needed.

Then the doctor looked at me, remembered I was 33 weeks pregnant and Fifth Disease is a problem for the baby. So he backtracked a little and left the room to get more information. When he returned he brought two other doctors to look at Josie to get their opinion. Josie was a little freaked by having three doctors huddling over her but at least she didn't break down crying. The one doctor said the rash looked more like a strep rash, so Josie was tested for strep throat but that came back negative. While all of the symptoms added up to Fifth Disease, they also didn't make sense in the order that they appeared. So we left with the original orders of keeping an eye on her and Tylenol when needed and the additional order for me to tell my Ob/Gyn about the possible exposure to Fifth Disease.

Now for the really weird part of Josie's sickness. She pretty much became potty trained. Usually when kids are sick they get worse and have accidents galore. Not Josie, she actually advanced to the point of yelling "Have to go pee!" as she streaked past me to the bathroom. She wanted to wear her big girl panties and started refusing to wear Pull-Ups. She insists on using the restrooms whenever we go out, especially at church. Sure, there have been a few accidents.

Granted we have been attempting to potty train Josie since she turned two. However, that was in California so at the time I figured that moving back to Ohio would just make her regress. So I encouraged sitting on the potty but didn't stress about it.

Once we were back in Ohio, I gave her some time to adjust. At random times in October, November and December I would put her in training pants and break out a sticker chart. The raisin rewards were (and still are) a big motivational hit. Then I'd have a rough day and not feel like cleaning up any messes and would revert to Pull-Ups.

More recently, the sitter had begun talking up wearing big girl panties. And then Josie received some princess panties for Christmas. I think those two things were all that she needed. I still put her in Pull-Ups at night, but half of the time she doesn't even need them then.

I do expect there will be some trouble once the baby arrives. I could be wrong though and she will just spend the time learning to write instead of having accidents. Any way about it, potty training Josie has been much easier and faster than it was with Xander.