No, that’s not a typo. Since Saturday afternoon, Sasha’s been ill with—as the doctor told us yesterday—coxsackievirus, a.k.a. hand-foot-and-mouth disease. It’s sort of yucky: painful sores in her mouth, lots of drooling (and complaining), bloodshot eyes. But it’s manageable. Ibuprofren deals with the pain well enough that Sasha can eat, and when she’s not hungry, the complaining mysteriously vanishes.

The only real issue is that coxsackie is contagious, so we’ve been keeping her home from school. It’s not the most easily transmissible virus out there; you just have to make sure the kids wash their hands and don’t share eating utensils. Simple, right? Well, we’re playing it safe for now, though maybe she’ll return to school tomorrow.

But… we can’t just keep Sasha inside all day watching Dora and SpongeBob (although man would she love that!). So, it out to the playgrounds we go, and if there are other kids around, they just better watch out. Or, at the very least, they’ve gotta stop tongue-kissing Sasha. What is it with the randy toddlers anyway? No wonder they’re always getting sick.

One final great thing about coxsackie: the name! Say it, then giggle. It’s okay, I giggled too.