He started showing signs a couple days ago and now has full-blown spots over his body. As a 9 month-old, it should be (fingers crossed) relatively mild, but how do we make him more comfortable and how do we keep him from scratching himself when he can't understand what we are saying to him?

Oh geez, tough one. Poor guy. Sorry for non-advice.

Poor little bun!

Keep his nails trimmed, consider taping a pair of socks on his hands, give him cool oatmeal baths, and plenty of fluids.

(You have talked to a doctor, right?)

The itchiest parts of his body will probably be his arms and his face, in my experience. You can cover his arms, torso, legs, and feet with lightweight, breathable fabric so that he's not directly scracing the spots (scratching with fingernails can do a lot of damage), but keeping him from scratching his face will probably be difficult.

For temporary relief, I remember that hot showers were simply divine when I had chicken pox. Also, watch out for high fevers - my brother had a really high fever that caused some concern when he had it.

Oatmeal baths and baking soda baths, yes!. They're the ticket. They really do help. If he likes to splish splash about in a little pool or tub you can put him in the bath 5 or 6 times in one day. Calamine lotion too?

I just looked at your flickr stream and he is beyond adorable...oh my god. I want to eat him with a spoon.

He is a cutie!

Aw, poor little guy.

Okay, the folding clothes while watching snooker? Well... that, that's just illegally cute.

No advice, though. :( Are cotton mittens a horrible idea? I guess it would be really difficult to keep him from ripping them off...

Well, for newborns you can get shirts with fold-over cuffs to keep them from doing too much damage when they scratch. Maybe you could find - or rig up - one in his size. But it might be extremely frustrating for him to have his dexterity compromised like that.

If the baths don't do it, you could make a paste of baking soda and water and apply it to the itchy spots. Works great for mosquito bites. I've never tried this on a baby, so I don't know if there are any risks to it.

Someday, some of this will seem funny.

But I feel for you. A sick kid is the most helpless thing in the world for a parent.

Poor little thing.

But if it is any comfort,better the child have it NOW than when he's thirty. Like a Certain Metachat Bunny did. It's way worse when you are older.

Say, you've already had it, right?

Oh, and I hopped over to see the pics-he IS a cutie patootie!

Yeah, oatmeal baths and watch out for the fever. You never know - my daughter got terribly sick with it while my son barely had any symptoms at all. But basically just sort of resign yourself to sitting in the bathroom for the next couple of days. Perhaps invest in a few more rubber ducks or other nifty bath toys - like half the kitchen drawers.

Thanks for all the tips. We've got him Aveeno bath oil, which is an oatmeal extract, and some antihistamine.
He's intrigued by the socks on his hands (not particularly thrilled, but intrigued). Some parts of his body are much worse than others, the groin and scalp being the worst. I've put a picture up (of his face, not groin). We still get some smiles and laughs out of him. He's being a real trooper, but it's obvious he's pretty uncomfortable.
He's had a mild fever but we've been able to keep it under control.
I've never had the pox, but several years ago I was tested positive for the virus. At least that's what they told me. Let's hope they were right.