IToday was a crazy day! And in the midst of this crazy disaster day I was having, I thought, this would make a good blog post. And to be completely honest, over the last year, I have had sever moments that have made me think the exact same thing. And due to several different circumstances I continued to let my blog sit still. There were other more pressing things to deal with at the time. I have very much missed blogging and sharing tidbits of my day with you. And one day, I will tell you exactly why I haven't blogged for the past year. But for today I think I will just tell you about my crazy ,this could only happen to me, kind of story......
We have a cactus, we actually have several cacti, but there is one that is kinda special. When lb was around the age of five he bought a teny tiny cactus from TG&Y for his grandmother. You know those little cacti that are only about two inches big and in those tiny clay pots? Yeah that's the kind I'm talking about. And this one is pretty. It's polka doted with little tiny needles that are bunched together to make all the velvety looking dots. It doesn't have those mean looking needles that are long and white and look like actual sowing needles sticking out all over the place.
Well, over the years that cactus has survived and eventually made its way back to Lb after his grandmother passed. I then took the cactus which had grown about a foot taller and repotted it and added it to my collection. After many years, two moves, and a few larger flower pots later, we still have this cactus.
When Cooper came along we were worried about him crawling into it or pulling it over on himself and various other things that cacti are famous for. But, luckily this cute little cactus was small enough to fit on the counter when it was brought in for the winter. And in the summer it was easy to hide behind the other various plants I had out on the back porch. And four years later Cooper is still unscathed.
That brings us to Wyatt. Wyatt has grown since the last time y'all saw him. He is now ten months old, as adorable as can be, and walking all over the place with the help of a cute little walker! This winter, once it became time to move all my plants inside, we were at a loss of what to do with this cute little cactus that was no longer small enough to fit in the bathroom counter. We knew that Wyatt would be learning to walk before long and so we thought we could hide it behind the recliner and another plant in an out of the way cubby hole. Both boys have played behind the recliner off and on all winter, but neither of them had ventured any further into the hole, until today. And Wyatt was the lucky winner for the First Cactus Catastrophe! Luckily, for Wyatt, he just brushed it with the bottom side of his right arm. He didn't even feel it. But, that is what is so tricky about a cactus that is so cute. You see, those little velvet dots don't hurt when they stick in you. And most of the time you don't even feel it when it happens. But after they are in you they itch. And if they are bumped they hurt. It makes your skin feel raw and dry. I know I have been stuck a few times. And the needles are so fine that if not stuck into your skin real tight it can blow onto your clothes or face or even down into your gloves thus spreading the raw, itchy, dry skin feeling.
So, what do you do with a 10 month old little boy who has a thousand little tiny cactus needles stuck into his arm? Well, you call for back up. At first I scooped him up and ran to the sink to wash out as much as I could. But the little booger was tired and he wanted to rub his eyes(and you don't want cactus needles in your eye) and be put down to play. Taking a bath at that very moment was not on his agenda and he let me know that he had other plans. So, by the time I had sufficiently transferred about a quarter of the needles into my hand and another quarter of them down the drain, I decided that I was going to need help. Luckily my wonderful sister-in-law Tesa was able to load up and come to the rescue armed with a pair of tweezers! By the time she got here I had wiggled him out of his needle covered shirt and was holding him as still as you can possibly hold a head strong little boy who still only wants to do what he wants to do. She went to work straight away plucking the evil little things out of his arm while I held him down and he screamed. That's when Tesa's mom arrived and she had an idea.....packing tape! That's right we covered his chubby little needle covered arm with heavy duty packing tape and then ripped it off like a bandaid(well, ripped is really a pretty strong word for what we actually did. It was more like "removed like a bandaid"). And you know what? It worked!! After about four or five more tape applications we had the needles removed from his arm. Hooray!!
Now after all that, I have a little boy who is really tired from putting up such a fight and my own hand that now has to be covered in tape to get that one quarter of needles out!
Who knew that such a small cactus could cause such a big problem or that packing tape would come in so handy!
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