TwoShots

Well, it was a delicately scheduled day, where Paul had to cancel several things, but we all survived, and Opal has been to the doctor, who says the Rash is a combination of bug bites and something else, where something else is probably contact dermatitis, cause unknown, possibly a nameless virus, and almost certainly not chicken pox. They recommend ignoring it until it goes away, unless it starts to itch, and say she is "no more contagious than any other small child". However, from my point of view, the visit was made considerably more useful by the fact that Opal is now set to go to PNG, because they weighed her, shot her up with boosters of two vaccines, and prescribed an antimalarial. So Opal's summary of this undertaking is "I showed the doctor my rash and I got two shots. It hurt a lot, but I was a very brave, and it was better than getting sick." From which you can gather the substance of our conversations this afternoon.

I kept being startled when people commented on Opal's glasses. You would be surprised how quickly one habituates to seeing a four-year old wearing cheap Groucho Marx glasses a size too large with the nose removed (and, because they were incredibly cheap, one and a half fuzzy eyebrows stuck to them). I don't even notice them any more. Other people, however, find them very striking, and comment in terms which have not in the least discouraged Opal's belief that she should wear them at every chance she gets because they make her look more beautiful. "I like being beautiful, Mom" she sighed happily, putting a hairband on crooked to go with her glasses.

Read to Opal today: Lots of Ozma of Oz. Big Bob and the Holiday Potato, The Big Baby, Zen Ties, Akiko Volume 1, Seadogs, Zen Ties, Scooby Doo and the Alien Invasion, I'm Green and I'm Grumpy, and a bunch of Fog Mound 1: Travels of Thelonius (which Opal and I are loving).

The Running Book Count: 444 + 23 (last year 1886 + 2)