Itchy

When my son woke up this morning, he told me casually that he woke up at 1:00 am and could not fall back to sleep until 2:30 am because he had itchy feet. Itchy feet? My first thought was, I sure hate having itchy feet. I forgot about his complaint for the remainder of the morning, took him to summer school and went on with my day. Upon returning home from summer school, he again complained of itchy feet. Because my son has a tendency to be bit dramatic at times, I again let it go, thinking he was blowing a mosquito bite out of proportion. Was I wrong!

While folding laundry, again, my son approaches me to tell me that his ankles now itch as well as his back and stomach. I finally took him seriously and took a long, hard look at those feet. Well, they were red, with a raised rash that looked itchy. "Hmmmmm" I said, what could this be? It was at this point that he told me that yesterday he wandered into the woods near our house in, you guessed it, in flip flops. It is a well known fact that the woods in our neighborhood are full of poison ivy. Poor kid, has what would have been a very unavoidable case of poison ivy on his feet, ankles, knees, back and stomach had he worn shoes and socks in the woods. I feel so bad for him. I put some medication on the rash (I need to keep it on hand in case of emergencies, which I have only needed once before) told him to change his clothes and to stay out of the woods with flip flops on. True to form, my son took my words a little bit too much to heart. He looks like he is ready to play in the snow. Fearful of contracting it again, he is covered from head to toe, well protected from the threat of poison ivy, or from any other summer related rash, bite, burn or bump he could get.

I write this blog as a reminder that with summer being here, the little things that can make summer uncomfortable are back. So, now I am off to Walgreens to replenish our now low supply of poison ivy medicine. Maybe while I am at it, I should purchase some more sunscreen, neosporin and band aids, with 3 kids, you can never have too many of those supplies on hand. Happy summer!!