Weeds

Milo woke up from his nap this afternoon and would not stop crying.  I didn't know what to do with him.  He's generally a good kid and his cries are easily soothed.

Not today.  I tried feeding him, but he spit the food out.  I tried giving him toys, but he wouldn't even touch them.  I tried putting him back to bed, but he screamed louder.  I tried holding him but he arched his back as if to get away.

I hauled him outside and sat him down in the grass in the shade.  He started to whimper but then was quiet.  If I looked at him the wrong way or started to speak, he would start screaming again.  Everyone and everything had to be quiet.  He sat there, looking around, playing with the grass, occasionally whimpering if something didn't go quite right.

Avery came bounding out of the house, slamming the screen door shut.  Milo jumped but miraculously, didn't cry.

"Mom!"  she yelled.  "Our yard has so much weed!"
"Shhh!"  I hushed her.  "You mean weeds."
"Look at all this weed."  she continued, ignoring my shushing and my emphasized s on weeds.  "There's weed here and over there and by the sandbox and by the garden.  So much weed!"
"Avery!"  I hissed.  "They're called weeds, not weed, and please be quiet so Milo doesn't start screaming."
"Ok."  she said and started to pick the weeds.

I gave Milo a weed to play with and he immediately put it in his mouth and gagged himself.  Bad idea.

"Mom!"  Avery yelled again.  "You know what we could do?  We could put all this weed into bags and sell it!  We could get lots and lots of money for our weed!"  

I sent her into the house before I could be arrested for my backyard full of weeds.

And I made a mental note to remind Chet to mow.