I took Lydia to the doctor yesterday to check out a rash that has been forming on the right side of her chest. It started about a month or two ago - it just looked like flesh-colored bumps (maybe 4 bumps) just below her right shoulder. It didn't seem to bother her, so I wasn't worried. Then, about two weeks ago, more flesh-colored bumps appeared. Then, the bumps turned red. Then it started spreading down her chest! That's when I started getting worried. I had to know what type of rash it was and what I can do for it.

Despite the fact that the rash doesn't appear to bother Lydia, I wanted to make sure it wasn't something horrible (or contagious or fungal). So, to the doctor we went. After paying a huge fee to see the doctor (crazy expensive health care plan - at least well-baby visits and shots are free), we met with our doctor. Have I mentioned before that I really like our doctor? Lydia has even started liking him! He's so understanding and calm and takes his time. He's worth the long wait in the waiting room.

Anyway, after a quick look at Lydia (she now weighs 23 pounds!) to make sure everything else is fine, he looked at the rash. By shining his light on her skin (the light he uses to look at her eyes and in her mouth), we could see that the bumps actually wrapped around her neck, down her shoulder and onto her chest. The bumps on her neck are (still) flesh-colored. He diagnosed the rash as Lichen Striatus. Unfortunately, this is a not very well researched rash. Doctors don't know where it comes from or why people get it. They also don't know how to cure it.

After reassuring me that there are no bad side affects of the rash and that it's not fungal and that Lydia will be fine, our doctor told us we'd have to go to a dermatologist if we wanted some kind of treatment. I asked if the dermatologist would give her a medicine that would get rid of the rash. He said he didn't know! Brian and I researched Lichen Striatus online (you can find pictures and brief descriptions). There really isn't that much information on this type of rash. And there is no known cure.

The thing with this rash is that it spreads in a linear fashion down the body. So, Lydia's rash could gradually spread all the way down her stomach! Some people have it spread all the way down their leg or arm! A dermatologist may or may not be able to give the patient something to get rid of the rash. Using Cortizone cream is known to help stop the rash sooner than leaving it be. It did say that the rash would eventually go away on it's own - after 6 months to a year! And, the rash can discolor the skin for awhile, too! Crazy!

We are going to start putting Cortizone cream on her rash twice a day and see if that works. I will mark the beginning and end of the rash with a permanent marker to track whether it's still spreading or not. If it does start spreading more, I will take her to the dermatologist. I would hate to have a rash (even it it's not itchy or painful) all the way down my stomach!

In other news....next week is the beginning of the school year! Brian is at his school all this week for in-service. It's hard having him gone ALL DAY and not have help with Lydia in the mornings. But, I did it last year, I can do it this year!

I have my piano lesson schedule finalized and am excited to start with my 13 students! I can't believe that my small private piano lesson business has gone from 9 students to 13 in a year! I love being able to contribute money to our household finances AND be able to stay at home! I have 8 students on Monday (10:00-11:30 and then 3:30-6:30) and 5 on Tuesday (3:30-6:00). Lydia will be going to Aunt Rekeisha's house on Monday afternoons and Aunt Leah's house on Tuesday afternoons. I'm hoping she'll do okay Monday mornings, since it's only for an hour and a half. 

Lydia is still not as well behaved during piano lessons as I had hoped she would be by now. She wants my attention and doesn't want to share it - even if she had been ignoring me right beforehand. I just had one of my students this morning and Lydia bugged us for the first half of the lesson. I had her set up in the living room with a snack, milk and Yo Gabba Gabba. But, she still wanted to sit on my lap, talk to me, and see what I was doing. I'm sure she'll get to the point where she'll be like "Whatever, mom's doing lessons. I'll entertain myself." Until then, she gets to spend an hour or two with her cousins and aunts, which is also fun for her.

I've been making activity schedules for August. I want to keep Lydia busy and not just in front of the TV watching her shows. I was really good at doing art activities, etc., with her last year and I want to start that again. We're also going to try story time at the library, again, this year - two times a week. We'll see how she does.

When All You Care About is Here, This is a Good Place to Be

Summer is almost over, so we're trying to have as much fun as a family as we can before it's off to work.

I can't wait for the weather to get a bit cooler so we can spend more time outside. Lydia constantly wants to go outside and I have to keep saying that it's too hot. If she finally convinces me to take her out, her face immediately turns red and then she wants me to carry her because it's so hot. So, I have started being creative about ways to entertain her inside the house. When she has Adah or Abram over, she's perfectly happy to stay inside. But, when it's just boring old mom and dad, she needs lots of entertaining!

So, here are some ideas I came up with this week.

Body Painting

Adah joined in with us on this one. I put a huge piece of paper (thanks to extra school supplies via Brian) on the ground and taped it on the floor with masking tape. I put small globs of different colored paint all around the paper. Once Lydia and Adah were finished snacking, I took off their clothes and put them in the paint.

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Lydia loved the paint right away, but Adah was a bit more hesitant. I put Adah right in the paint and then she started getting more interested in it.

Music Time

Adah joined us for this one, too. I put out the music instruments I have: a drum, small piano, and a xylophone. Lydia immediately picked up the drum and started playing. She played the drum for like 10 minutes! Adah thought the drum was cool, too, but Lydia had the claim on it. So, Adah played the piano and xylophone. Lydia liked it when I sang songs while she played the drums.

Baking

Lydia really wanted to go outside today, but it was just too hot. So, I asked her what else she wanted to do. She went into her bathroom and started dragging out her step stool, wanting to take it to the kitchen. So, I asked her if she wanted to bake something and she said, "Yeah!" I got out my recipe book and found a recipe for Banana Cake - and we had all the ingredients!

Lydia loves to bake and she's actually really good at pouring and stirring. I love how she always wants to help.