Bedtime Takes Forever.

While Julia and I had to take a trip to Urgent Care this afternoon so she could get a throat culture (which was positive for strep), Madeleine has been battling her own health discomforts.  The completely benign but totally, horrifically nasty looking Molluscum Contagiosum on her skin has been causing her lots of irritation today. 

After Ethan had finished with Madeleine's bedtime routine, he took her downstairs to put cortisone cream on the rash.  As poor topless Madeleine stood getting her bumpy rash examined by all three adults in the household, she was suddenly struck by an important thought.

MADELEINE: Well.  SO.  The QUESTION is: how did I even GET this molluscum?
ETHAN:  You could have gotten it anywhere, honey.  You could have gotten it from the pool, or anywhere else.

I then took Madeleine back up to her bedroom to give her a snuggle in her bed, but unfortunately, she was WAY too focused on the source of her infection than on getting to sleep.

MADELEINE: Well Mama.  How did I even GET this molluscum?  Daddy says it's from the POOL, but none of the kids in my swim lessons even HAVE molluscum.
ME: Well, you really could have gotten it anywhere.  It's caused by germs, so if you get the germs on your skin, you'll get the rash.
MADELEINE: But Mama.  None of my friends even HAVE the rash.
ME: You don't necessarily get it from the rash.  If the molluscum germs are on anything - like, even on the wall, and then if you TOUCH the wall and get the germs on your hand, and then touch your skin, you can get infected.
MADELEINE: But MAMA.  There's no BUMPY RASH on walls.
ME: It's not the rash that causes the molluscum.  It's GERMS that cause the rash.  Germs are invisible.  So we don't even know where they might be.
MADELEINE: But Mama.  Germs are not INVISIBLE.
ME: Well, they kind of are.  They're teeny teeny tiny.  They're too small for us to see.  You need to look into a MICROSCOPE in order to see something that teeny tiny.
MADELEINE: Well Mama.  It's not called a microscope.  It's called a...a...a...a...
ME: It IS called a microscope.  A microscope makes things look MUCH, MUCH bigger than they really are.  So things that are too small for us to see are made big enough under a microscope.
MADELEINE: No, but Mama, that's called a...a...a...
ME: Are you thinking of a telescope?  A telescope lets you see things WAY far away in the sky.
MADELEINE: No.  Mama.  At school we don't call it a microscope.  It's called a MAGNIFYING glass.
ME: Well, a microscope is like a magnifying glass in a way, but it makes things MUCH bigger than a magnifying glass can.  Things that seem invisible, like germs, can only be seen with a microscope. 
MADELEINE: But Mama.  Why do you say "don't even worry about the new, new molluscum"?
ME: Because, honey, you're going to keep getting new bumps for awhile, but eventually they'll go away, so just don't worry about them.
MADELEINE: But Mama.  A kaleidoscope is the kind of thing they have at the DOCTOR'S office.  And...you don't see GERMS when you look in a kaleidoscope.  When you look in a kaleidoscope you just see lots and lots of SQUARES.
ME: Right.  That's when you look in a kaleidoscope.  But when you look in a MICROSCOPE, you can see a much larger version of things.
MADELEINE: Oh!  Mama.  I thought you said it was a KALEIDOSCOPE.

I guess it's just too much to keep straight, huh?  A magnifying glass, a kaleidoscope, a microscope, and what not.  I think Madeleine has the exact right idea.  Instead of just shushing her mouth and getting to bed, let's just perseverate on the functions of each and every type of scope and form of magnification.  At this rate, we'll be up for hours!

But don't worry.  At least BOTH kids are still up.  Julia came down to sheepishly announce: "I need to go POOP!" just a few minutes ago, then engaged us all in cheery chatter after she had finished wiping and washing her hands.  It's a party of sickies in the Rowe household!  Come join in and share some great germs!