What was that I was saying about shoes?

Everett ran and fell into a prickly pear cactus bush today. Our dogs got out of the fenced part of the yard and while rounding them up some kids followed me out. Everett was barefoot of course. We didn't know it but the neighbors apparently have what appears to be ornamental cactus in the middle of nowhere. It's a huge weird, low lying cluster. I was at a distance when Everett didn't listen to me and ran away from me. I saw him fall on grass and cry but I didn't know he was hurt or that there was any cactus under him. I thought he was just throwing a fit. :(

 Layla was the one who carried him all the way back home and met up with me informing us that he was hurt. We all rushed around him at the kitchen table grabbing pillows and giving him chocolate to distract him. He had huge, huge clusters of the orange glochids which I thought we could remove in large clumps with tweezers, nope. They came out one by one sometimes in broken pieces. I almost gave up and went to the hospital. Ricky took over the big clumps and I did the scattered invisible ones. Ricky luckily had better and faster luck with the large clusters than I did, but it was still slow going. So many of his little plump toddler toes were just covered in clumps!! It was awful to see. He had a bunch of them scattered across his legs and feet too. They are SO much like fiber glass, pretty much exactly like that. We of course got some of them in us as we worked on him.

The good that came out of this is team work. I ordered each kid a job: grab the light in the basement, get pillows, hold this leg, get wet paper towels, get the laptop for a movie, give him a chocolate. When he had finished two chocolates Layla offered him a sucker she had saved for herself from school. What a sweetie!

Charlotte is recovering from wisdom teeth removal surgery (and is doing well!) and she hopped up to help with the baby; when Beatrice wouldn't stop crying I nursed her and continued to work on Everett's foot. Charlotte went right to Everett's head to soothe and distract him and we powered on through.

What a morning that was! Many hours later I'm happy to report he is walking around and doing great! We also did a glue trick we read online. Spread white glue over affected area after you pluck what you can, wait to dry, peel glue off. We told him we were making him have snake skin. Three other kids did it with him too. lol. :)

When do babies eat? Whenever they want!

surface of prickly pear

magnified, look how beastly and sharp! Like shards of glass.