Spiderman

Sunday: Caleb and Rudy find a black widow spider with an egg sac under one of the downspouts in our front yard. The egg sac gets bleached, the spider gets contained and trashed.

Monday: Rudy picks Caleb up from school and sees that he is limping. Caleb says his mosquito bite hurts. Upon further inspection, there is no mosquito bite - but there is a bite. It's a little bigger than a silver dollar, warm to the touch and apparently it hurts like the dickens because Caleb screams when we touch it and he won't put any pressure on his leg. He cries in the bathtub when I wash it. I give him benadryl. He goes to sleep.

Tuesday Morning: Caleb wakes up still limping and saying his bite hurts. It's less red and more bruised looking. I take him to daycare and ask the teacher to please keep an eye on it and let me know if it gets worse.

Tuesday Afternoon: My phone rings at 2:30. Daycare director says Caleb has fever and his bite has gotten darker. I pick him up and they tell me that his temperature is 101.9. We go to the doctor. On the way there, I quiz Caleb again about the bite.
Me - When did it happen?
Caleb - On Saturday a months a while. (This is a typical answer to a "when" question.)
Me - Did you see a bug or a spider?
Caleb - I saw one with Daddy. We killed it.
Me - Did you see one at school yesterday?
Caleb - No.
Me - Did you get your bite in the morning or the afternoon?
Caleb - I don't know.
Me - Did you get your bite at recess?
Caleb - What's "recess" mean?
Me - the playground
Caleb - Oh. I don't know.
I give up on that line of questioning. Doctor checks Caleb over and sees no other source of infection. He says that the bite is definitely causing the fever, but he can't tell what kind of bite it is. He says it isn't a poisonous bite or Caleb would be sicker than he is. He prescribes an oral antibiotic, a topical antibiotic and Benadryl. Caleb and I leave the office and pick up the prescriptions. We come home to chill out because he still has fever. We talk to Mom and Mr.L. Caleb thinks its funny when Mr. L. calls him "Spiderman." I turn on the TV. The kids' show on PBS and is about spiders. Rudy comes home with Nola. Rudy calls Caleb "Spiderman." He smiles. Caleb turns down pizza for supper because he "doesn't want to eat." I make him eat some yogurt so he can take his medicine. He grudgingly takes his antibiotic because I tell him that if he doesn't drink it, he'll have to get the medicine with a shot. (Don't judge me.)

Tuesday night: Caleb has a fever of 103.1 but seems to feel fine. I can hardly stand to touch him because it makes me sweat. He lays on the floor and watches TV then plays on the computer for a little while. He goes to bed without a fight at 7:30.

Things I know:
1. I hate spiders and all things spider-related.
2. I hate having sick kids because it breaks my heart to know that they don't feel okay, it's expensive and it's stressful.
3. There are 9 days of school left.