Luckily, I know she understands. Not long ago, she was the one standing over a hot stove trying to make spaghetti sauce with the phone precariously balanced between her ear and her shoulder, threatening to land in the middle of the pasta pot at any moment. As if these two combined tasks weren't difficult enough, matters become more tricky when a toddler hits you in the back of the head with a flying fork followed by a fistful of soggy Cheerios. Hopefully, your husband won't mind your lovely new hair accessories as there is no way on Earth you will be getting a shower before he strolls through the door in a half hour. Meanwhile, the dog is practically knocking you off your feet as she tries to dig a wayward meatball out from underneath the stove. It has just occurred to me that instead of being a stay at home mom, I might have been better off joining a circus act. Too late now. Or is it? When I'm finished typing this, I'm going to google Barnum and Bailey to see if they are hiring.
Anyway, in the last 24 hours, I have had several little moments that reminded me of my sweet mother. Did I tell her about any of them when we talked earlier today? Of course not! Let's begin with buttercups. We found a whole passel of them yesterday morning and as the bambino ran through the yard clutching one bright yellow flower in each of his tiny fists, I immediately thought of her. Together, my mom and I spent many early summer days picking handfuls of buttercups in our backyard and holding them under our chins to see if they turned our fair skin yellow. Wait, what was the point of that? I knew it had something to do with butter, but I couldn't remember exactly what so I googled it to find out. Of course it meant we liked butter...well that's kinda dumb. Really, who doesn't like butter? I mean sure lots of people avoid it for dietary reasons but flat out disdain for warm, melty, golden, fatty, deliciousness smeared on piping hot toast...impossible!
Do you know what else I found out through the magic of the Internet? Buttercups are terribly poisonous and among other things they can cause skin irritation and gastric distress. Gasp...I am a terrible parent. I just allowed my son to frolic through the yard clutching a bunch of poisonous weeds to his little chest for hours. How was I to know? Amongst the list of nasty plants to avoid including poison ivy, oak and sumac, stinging nettles and those pinkish purple pricker bushes that shred your legs to bits in 30 seconds or less, neither of my parents ever mentioned steering clear of the deadly buttercup! I might as well have given the little one a pack of matches and said, "Have a blast kiddo!"
After a brief moment of panic, I was able to get a hold of myself. I realized that as many buttercups as I've handled throughout childhood, I personally don't ever remember getting any kind of horrible rash afterwards. Also, although I relished whipping up mud pies and big pots of pretend stew made with a wide variety of weeds and flowers, at no time did I actually attempt to purposely ingest these make believe concoctions. I mean if it were a windy day, I might have risked sucking in a few wayward bits of plant matter or ending up with a bit of sandy grit in my teeth, but under normal circumstances not so much. As for why my own mother never warned me about the danger of chomping on buttercups, to be fair, she simply may have been unaware that they were a poisonous plant. But the longer that I am a mother the wiser I become and the more realistic answer is that we all know exactly what is going to happen if you tell a toddler, "Don't eat that buttercup." Next thing you know you will be trying to wrestle wilted half chewed flower bits out from between the freakishly strong jaws of your wildly flailing offspring. Smart lady, my mom.
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