Four days ago: Madalyn sucks the length and breadth of every pole and handrail Universal offers her while waiting in line for Lee Tee, and despite our scolding to stop already, haven't you heard about germs yet because WE TELL YOU ABOUT THEM ALL THE TIME?

Three days ago: She incubates. She is, unbeknownst to us, a walking Petri dish.

Two days ago: She crawls in our bed at 4AM and coughs like she surely will die in the next 24 hours.

One day ago: She begins running a low-grade fever and throws some more deathbed coughs in for effect.

Tonight: Katie and Madalyn drive all over Orlando looking for a place that will take her and her spiking fever (as well as her drama-queen-whooping-cough.) Minute Clinic says she's too little. Pediatric After Hours says her chest is clear as can be, but finds her throat culture most positive for Strep.

(I should've known that's what she meant when she said, "my mouth hurts." But she says this when her stomach hurts, too... like 'my stomach is IN my mouth.') Her cough was just communication; "I think you may have temporarily forgotten how miserable I am, so let me put it this way: if how I felt were a noise, it would sound like this- uhuwaolauhua."

Currently: TWO HOURS and two pharmacies later, we are home and the first dose of Amoxicillin rests soundly in her stomach... right next to a Wendy's frosty. She may not have Pneumonia, not even a speck of phlegm in her chest, but she does have Strep Throat. And Strep Throat hath EARNED her a frosty, gosh darn it.

A friend of mine just commented on my last post and asked if we were now officially theme park people after having such a great time at Universal... um, no. I think this goes to show we are officially NOT theme park people. (At least not until Madalyn stops mistaking the handrails for candy canes.)

Labels: Madalyn, national lampoon family vacations, sick days