I don’t feel good.  I’ve been hot and uncomfortable the past 3 days.  Today, mommy took me to the doctor-lady, who tickled my ears, put a stick down my throat, and declared I had hand, foot, mouth disease, technically known as the coxsackie virus.  (I don’t know which name is worse, so I call it “the cooties”.)  Apparently, doctor-lady has seen lots of babies and cooties lately, and mom said that’s why all of my friends have been suspiciously absent from school the last couple of weeks.

As evidence that I may be down but not out, despite having “the cooties” I learned how to wave bye bye today!  I was moving my wrist up and down when mommy burst into her familiar smiles and applause saying, “are you waving bye bye????” Why yes Mother, I guess I am!!  The more I moved my hands, the more she said bye bye, like the two go together.  I tried to say bye bye too, but what came out was more of the da-da variety.  So I’ve got the hands and the feet, but I still need to work on the mouth.  Maybe after I get over “the cooties”……..