Pumpkin soup tea-party

The girls are sick. They have nasty ulcers in their mouths, probably caused by a herpes simplex virus, like cold sores. Plus they both have red spots, each with a white blister in the centre. Apparently this is a side-effect of the herpes.

The doctor today said that they don't give any anti-viral drugs to otherwise healthy kids with herpes simplex, because everyone is going to be exposed to it lots of times, so it's better to let the immune system get on with learning how to fight it.

Great.

We use Panadol, teething gel (which contains aspirin), and cuddles. Sleep is hard to come by, so we are all very tired. We are also contagious (or at least the girls are). The doctor said that by Friday they should be mostly recovered and no longer contagious, and safe to go to playgroup. We will see. I would rather not have our family be the epicentre of a herpes outbreak!

They aren't eating much, cos their mouths hurt.

One of Hazel's favourite books is Pumpkin Soup. The storyline is average, but the pictures are luminous. A cat, a squirrel, and a duck live together, and they make pumpkin soup. She requests this book daily, and we often have it as a pre-nap story.

The girls don't eat pumpkin much... an occasional mouthful, but it's not a hit. Last week I made pumpkin soup, and gave it to the girls in tea-cups. The lure of a Tea Party plus the glamour of the book allowed them to get past the taste and consume several tiny cups each.

I'm compiling a pumpkin soup now, from baked garlic cloves, slow-fried onions, and baked pumpkin. When they get up from their nap, we will have another pumpkin soup tea-party.