Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Tuesday, October 25, 2016

A Pox on . . .

The proper wearing of the dress. As seen here . . .
Our (then) five children had a problem.
All of them.
Chicken pox.
Every little body was covered.
Even the baby.
Sigh.
For a week, I spent my time applying the current ‘itch-free’ salves.
Filling the tub with baking soda and water.
Satisfying odd food cravings.
Did you know that warm brownies and/or chocolate chip cookies make chicken pox itch less?
Well, they do.
Moving on . . .
For our eldest daughter Caitlin, aged three, the chicken pox were an adventure.
An adventure that took a little turn.
Up.
Let me explain . . .
Caitlin would lift her little dress and look at her tummy and exclaim, “Look, Mommy! Chickie Spots!”
“Yes, sweetheart. Put your dress down.”
She was so interested in these spots that she spent most of her time with her dress up around her ears, looking at them.
I would hear her in various rooms of the house, speaking obviously to one or more members of the family. “Look! Chickie Spots!”
Followed by, “Caitlin! Put your dress down!”
Finally, not receiving the excited reaction she wanted, she would return to me.
“Look, Mommy! Chickie Spots!”
“Yes, Sweetheart. Put your dress down. Have a cookie.”
I should have known that she would require a bigger audience.
I should have realized that, to her, anyone coming into the house must be interested in her current fabulous condition.
I didn’t.
My good friend, Tammy came to the door.
I greeted her as she stepped bravely into the ‘plague house’.
We chatted a bit.
Then Caitlin appeared.
I didn’t move fast enough.
Up came the dress.
“Look, Sis ‘Sin! Chickie Spots!”
She laughed and nodded appreciatively. “Yes. You certainly do have the chicken pox.”
At the same time as I was saying, “Caitlin! Put your dress down!”
Sadly, this was only the beginning.
Long after the Chicken Pox had disappeared, Caitlin was still hiking up her little skirts and exclaiming, "Look! Chickie Spots!"
Two things came from this experience.
1. I always put shorts on under Caitlin’s dresses after that. Little girl panties are cutest when they are hidden.
2. The phrase, “Caitlin, put your dress down!” became immortalized in the annals of Tolley history.
Caitlin is grown and married now, with her own little girls.
She has long since learned to keep herself properly covered.
But her youngest insists on pulling her dresses up around her ears.
No spots, yet, but we’re hopeful.

18 comments:

  1. OH CHICKEN POX -- what a challenge it presented to my 7th grade year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yikes! As if 7th grade wasn't hard enough all on its own!

      Delete
  2. The youngest little used to walk around pulling her shirt up and saying "Look, belly." Too cute.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee...
    I barely remember any of that!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hahaha! So cute! When I had the chicken pox I was too sick to do much except lie down! The same with our kids. Talk about spots!

    ReplyDelete
  5. When I had chicken pox I was one miserable kid. Not a fun time. My two daughters had them, not severely, and my son escaped and got the immunization.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm...they were immunized. I wonder if that gave them a lighter dose?

      Delete
  6. I got the Chicken Pox when on vacation visiting my aunt in Florida. Gave it to my sister too. And the nice doctor who lived next door.
    Poor Caitlin, I hope she forgives you for telling this one publicly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy holidays indeed! Yeah. She loves me. Maybe not now. But usually . . .

      Delete
  7. I gave chicken pox to my entire kindergarten class. Including the teacher. So a looooong break from school.
    And of course brownies and chocolate chip cookies helped. An almost universal cure-all. Whatever the age.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How generous of you! ;) I think chocolate chip cookies and/or brownies would help right now. To cure . . . Being awake.

      Delete
  8. I was miserable with the chicken pox for three weeks, but I do remember being really fascinated with watching the sores turn to scars. Sometimes, when I'm bored in a meeting or somewhere, I try to sort the chicken pox scars from the freckles on my arms.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Three weeks! Poor you! I'm going to add your solution to my list of things to do when seated in a boring meeting. It'll be right up there with Husby's habit of pulling out nose hairs...

      Delete
  9. Laughing at Caitlin's daughter being just like her. Apples don't fall far from the tree.
    My kids had their chicken pox in warm weather, so I kept them home and let them run around just in their undies with a damp thin towel wrapped around them, it seemed to lessen the itch. Toga style, fastened with nappy pins I borrowed from the baby's stash. Poor child #3 had so many pox we could barely see skin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sweet solution! Poor child #3. It has got to be the weirdest illness...

      Delete

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