Texas Bluebonnets

It was such a beautiful afternoon yesterday that I took our baby boy for a neighborhood stroll in search of bluebonnets before dad came home from work. They are popping up all over Austin and the hill country right now—a sure sign that spring has arrived. In Colorado we call them lupine but here they are called Texas Bluebonnets and are the state flower. Anyway, we found a nice mound of them about 1/2 mile from our house, so I stood Elliot in a bunch of them and prepared to snap some photos. But then he started screaming, and I quickly realized that his left foot and shin were covered in fire ants! For those of you who aren't familiar, they are a Texas nemesis. The tiny ants crawl out of their mound and swarm, then send each other a signal to bite—all at the same time. So, it's virtually impossible to get only a few fire ant bites. I stripped his clothes off so fast and somehow got all the ants off very quickly. He was immediately happy so we found a new spot and took some photos. Today the 30+ bites are little blisters that itch, so I am giving him Benadryl and keeping his leg slathered in Aveeno anti-itch creme. The entire experience left me feeling like mother of the year, let me tell you.

Today at Gymboree the teacher gave some of the kids square platforms with wheels attached to the bottom and pulls so parents could tote their babies around the classroom. Elliot was busy playing with a bucket of balls so did not notice them, but as soon as a baby girl scooted by, he dropped the balls and made a b-line for her. He grabbed the platform and pulled it out from under the girl causing her to kiss the gym mat and cry. Elliot didn't even notice her; he was after her wheels. He promptly turned the platform over and began spinning them. He is obsessed with spinning wheels and genuinely fascinated by things that go round and round.