Has your family ever had the pleasure of hand, foot and mouth disease? If so, I bet you know exactly where this is going. If not, I’ll spare you the clinical details and just say that it’s a MAJOR bummer and it keeps your kids out of school for what feels like forever… plus infinity.
That’s where the Hunsingers were last week — getting our first, full-throttle introduction to this delightful virus. By Tuesday, I was already desperate for anything to take our minds off the itchy bumps, headaches and general crankiness.
We’d read all the books. Every Yoto story had been played — and replayed — to the brink of madness. Ruby, our budding artist, was tired of her coloring books. We were so over the usual board games and puzzles. Playing “restaurant” loses its sparkle when eating most food is painful, although the sheer number of cold, bland snacks consumed was becoming alarming. We’d devoured every game on the PBS Kids app and watched far too much PBS Kids TV (but hey, support public media, right?!).
As I was racking my brain trying to find something to keep Ruby entertained, that’s when I stumbled, literally, upon a dusty roll of butcher paper I’d unceremoniously shoved in a corner months ago after my husband, Bill, brought it home from a kind woman at Ripton Community Trash Day. Bingo!
We rolled it out, cut it to size, and I attempted to shoo away Finn, our behemoth Golden Irish, who insisted that the paper was, in fact, for him. Then I traced my squirmy, giggling 4-year-old into a vaguely human shape. Then Ruby went to work. Her creation? An adorable, colorful fox. Complete with pointy ears, tattoos that read “Ruby,” “Mama,” and my personal favorite — “Amam.” The pièce de résistance? A stickered-on cheek tattoo from her 1001 Animal Stickers book that said: “Hello, I’m purrfect.”
It was, honestly, the best 15 minutes of the day. And when that was done? Well… we turned PBS Kids back on.
— Jenna Hunsinger, co-director of advertising and digital manager at the Addison Independent.
Do you have a story to share about life with young kids in Addison County? We’d love to hear from you! Email [email protected].