Cooties

Lou has very dry and sensitive skin and so there's always something rashy about him.  Over the past week I have noticed a flat red rash on the back of his neck and left knee, but just assumed it was heat rash.  It's miserably hot here right now and he is rear facing in his car seat, which means he doesn't get the blast of air conditioning like the rest of us.  Today when I was changing his diaper I noticed the rash had spread to his entire trunk and back and up and down his arms and legs.  The patch on the back of his knee was very irritated and he had what looked like hives under his left arm.  I had a brief flashback to this medical mystery and decided to take him in just in case.

The official diagnosis (of course) is a random virus.  Apparently the pediatrician's office is seeing a ton of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (they have GOT to come up with a better name for that!) and so she thinks this is some variation of that.  He isn't bothered by it a bit so we just have to let it run its course.  He feels fine, just looks gross.  And that's another $15 added to the "it's just a virus" pediatrician vacation fund.