A Morgan and Garcia Family

Chapter 22 - The Children Get Sick

Penelope had organized on Wednesday with one of the mothers from Addison and Avery's Playgroup to meet in the park one Saturday morning with their husbands for a morning of play and then after that they could have a morning tea picnic.

Finally the day of the gathering in the park has arrived and Penelope and Derek are getting a few little snacks prepared for the morning tea while Hunter is taking a nap and the girls are playing with their dollies in the living room, Penelope had dressed the girls in shorts and t-shirts and put their hair in a little pigtail on top of their head, just as Penelope was finishing with the morning tea she heard Hunter beginning to cry over the baby monitor and just as she was about to go and get him Derek says "I will go and get him Baby Girl while you finish up here" Penelope smiled and said "thank you Handsome" Derek walked over to Penelope and kissed her lips before leaving the kitchen to make his way upstairs to Hunter's nursery.

Penelope and Derek packed the car and got the kids into their seats and they headed for the park, Derek pulled into a free car space at the park and turned off the car he got out and began getting Hunter's stroller out of the car and set it up before getting out the twin stroller for the girls and set it up also while Penelope began to get Hunter's car seat out of the car to attach to the stroller base before getting the girls out of their car seats, once everyone was settled in the stroller Derek grabbed the picnic basket out and locked up the car and they made their way over to where the park playground and picnic area was.

When Penelope and Derek reached the area Penelope saw that Connie was already there and her Husband was off playing with the children in the playground area while Penelope off towards where Connie was sitting at the picnic table, Derek pushed the girls in the stroller over to where all the other father was and got them out of the stroller and stood them on the ground they both steadied themselves before toddling off towards the sandbox where their little friend Mason was playing with a truck Addison sat down next to Mason and picked up another toy while Avery tried to take the truck from Mason Derek was watching what was happening and said "ohhhhhh ohhhhhh Avery we need to share and Mason is playing with the truck" Avery dropped her bottom lip in a pout and began to cry Derek went and picked her up and gave her a cuddle and said "Avery don't be sad with Dada you just need to wait ok."

Avery stopped crying only little sobs remained but still Derek held her close as he watched Addison and Mason playing together, soon Avery was happy again and began to squirm in her Dada's arms so Derek put her down and she went back to playing with her sister and Mason, Penelope sat at the picnic table watching as the three sat and played happily until Mason's older sister Harper came over to join them, Harper is 5 and in Kindergarten so we haven't seen her until now but her mother Connie has spoken about how good she is with Mason but from where Penelope was sitting she could tell that Harper looked sick, Penelope watched as Harper sat down behind Mason and began to help him dig in the sandbox Harper reached across Addison so that she could get the bucket to make a sandcastle when she sneezed all over Addison and little did Penelope know that she and Connie were about to have sick kids on their hands.

Derek picked up Addison and Avery and placed them in the stroller and headed back to the table so that they could have something to eat Penelope took out a wet wipe and wiped their hands and faces before putting a bib on them to keep them clean and then handed both girls a piece of watermelon each and watched as they devoured it with the 6 teeth that they have next Penelope gave them a strawberry and watched as they munched that down to, Penelope was glad that the girls enjoyed eating fruit and vegetables.

Harper, Mason and their dad James came back over to the table and sat down Connie began to get some food out for her family she handed Mason a triangle section of a sandwich before handing Harper some fruit, Penelope looked at Harper closely and saw that Harper looked exhausted and also noticed that Harper had not even attempted to eat any of the fruit her mother gave her she just sat there with her head in one hand while the other hand was on her belly Connie looked at Harper and said "come on Princess you need to eat something" Harper shook her head slowly and said "I don't feel very good Mama, my head and my tummy hurt" Connie put her hand to Harper's forehead to see if she felt warm and sure enough she was starting to burn up a little so Connie began packing up and turned to Penelope and said "I am sorry to cut this short but I think we should call it a day I am going to get Harper home and into bed and hopefully she will feel better soon" Penelope smiled and said "that is not a problem, maybe we can do this again soon" as she began packing up their stuff.

It wasn't until three days after the park that Penelope had indeed been right about Harper and now she had made Addison and Avery sick, the girls have been cranky and irritable for two days now and the only thing that Penelope could think of was that it has something to do with Harper sneezing all over Addison Derek was currently bathing the girls when he called out to Penelope to come to the bathroom, when Penelope walked into the bathroom she saw Derek looking at Addison so she said "what's wrong Handsome" Derek turned and said "Addison is coming out in a rash on her tummy and she keeps scratching at it" Penelope crouched down beside the bath and took a closer look and said "I am just going to call Connie and see if Harper is displaying any of the same spots" Derek just nodded as Penelope left the bathroom again.

Back downstairs Penelope picks up her cell phone and scrolls through her contact list until she finds Connie's number when she finds it she dials the number and on the fourth ring Penelope hears "Hi Penelope, how are you" Penelope says "Hi Connie, I am good but I was just calling to ask a question" Connie starts to get worried on the other end of the phone and says "sure what is the question" Penelope then says "I am sorry to ask this but has Harper developed a rash over the last few days" Connie didn't know whether to lie or just come out out and tell Penelope that Harper had Chicken Pox but decided that she would come clean so she said "actually Penelope yes Harper did come out in a rash on Monday so I took her to the doctors and they told me she has the Chicken Pox and that they are highly contagious, I am so sorry Penelope if I had of know that she was not well I would have called you to reschedule our play day in the park."

Penelope was not happy about the situation that she was now in because the girls have been giving Hunter kisses so it is likely that he will get them too, so Penelope went back upstairs and into the bathroom and said to Derek "I just got off the phone with Connie and guess what Harper has the Chicken Pox so I assume that the girls are getting them now and it won't be long before Hunter gets them either so if you are right here I am going to go to the pharmacy and get something to put on the rash to stop the itchiness" Derek smiled and said "no worries Baby we will be all good until you get back."