Fever

When I picked Madeleine up at school yesterday, we walked out into the cold and Madeleine shivered and asked for her jacket. This was strange because while it was cold out, it's been cold out for the last 2 1/2 months and Madeleine hasn't ever wanted to wear her jacket before. Her reaction to proper outerwear can usually be described as resistant, and I'd given up insisting on it for the short walk from her school to our car. Shortly after we got home, Madeleine arrived shivering to the dinner table and asked if she could get a blanket during dinner. At that point, the gist of the situation did sink in and I took her temperature right after dinner - 101.2 underarm. Despite the fever though, she was happy and just wanted to be cozier and a bit quiet than usual.

While I was taking Madeleine's temperature, Josephine came over to the bed to watch and of course immediately wanted her temperature taken as well. She insisted on taking her shirt off and was fussing to get up onto the bed with Madeleine. Madeleine and I were trying to hold her off, supposing that she was going to try to take the thermometer before we were finished. When Josephine did make her way up though, she did something quite unexpected. She patted Madeleine gently and then leaned over to kiss her cheek a few times. We were all impressed with Josephine - that she understood that Madeleine wasn't feeling well and that she could be so gentle and caring to Madeleine.

This morning, Madeleine's fever was up again and she stayed home from school. Ironically, she was only going for a half day today anyway as her annual doctor's appointment is this afternoon. We're going to keep the appointment, and then likely will pick Josephine up a bit early at school.

This photo is from our trip to California over New Year's when we were driving from Los Osos to Oakland during torrential rains. Josephine slept for the entire drive, while Madeleine just napped a bit.