Dandelions and other scary things

 Here are a few pics of B at our church's annual Easter retreat, which was some weeks ago now.  The first scary thing of Easter weekend:  the smile on Benjamin's face in the picture above turned into a look of grave concern when he realized that the wagon he was climbing on was going to MOVE.  Was he really afraid of a hay ride?  JB was with him, and it sounds like he got over it and made it through the ride, but two year-old fears are sometimes inexplicable.  

Another case in point:  B put his food down on a patch of dandelions and started screaming and jumping around as though fire ants were biting his feet.  We took off his shoes and socks, but no ants anywhere to be seen.  Then we tried to put him back down on the ground and he would not let us put him anywhere near where he had stepped before, but the only things there were . . . dandelions.  

It slowly dawned on us that he was afraid of the dandelions, and the fear stuck with him for some weeks. I put him down in a patch of grass scattered with dandelions a week later and he would not move from the spot until we carried him through the dandelions.  I know it's difficult to imagine a two-year-old STANDING STILL for any length of time, but that's what a fear of dandelions will do.  He could not explain WHY he was afraid--maybe he thought they were thorny like cactus--but we've worked on it over the last few weeks and just this evening I saw him go over to a dandelion, pause for a couple of seconds, bend down, pick it, and blow the seeds away.  Phew.  

A tragic accident like the one in West, Texas (just 12 miles down the road) this week has a way of putting our lives into perspective, but I think I can still say that this has been a hard week.  I've felt proud of JB for working so hard to do the best coverage possible of the explosion and aftermath in West, but he worked a few 15 hour days dealing with some hard things like talking to families of first-responders who died in the explosion.

During those same days I picked up a stomach virus which had me quite sick and then Benjamin got it from me.  I know what we went through was nothing compared to the losses that many were experiencing right down the road, but I think being at home alone all day sick and with a sick child has a way of isolating you from a larger perspective on the world while you are in the middle of it. It wasn't that I thought JB should be home with us--not a all--I deeply respect his commitment to reporting on such important events.  I'm just saying it still felt hard.

We've all been better today and JB had the whole day off, so after church, naps, and some desperately needed cleaning and mowing, we went out to the lake for a friend's birthday party.  We're all thankful to be resting and playing together after a long week but still sobered by the losses from which many will not get a break this week or any time in the near future.