Spring is here. I guess it has been here for a few weeks, but I have really begun to notice it in the past few days. Suddenly I seem to be peering through a thick yellow haze. Tiny pollen particles dust every surface. Even the rain seems to be in cahoots with this stuff - not washing it away, but simply turning it into a mustardy mud.
While pollen does not bother me a bit, it does more than bother Lilley. After having skin tests done on her last fall, the allergist told me she had one of the worst reactions he has ever seen to oak pollen. If she is outside for even a few minutes her eyes turn red and she starts clawing at them. Last spring, we first discovered this allergy when her eyes became so swollen it looked like she had been in a fistfight.
So we have to be creative. While most people are running around outside enjoying the beautiful weather, I have to choose between the torture of keeping Lilley inside or the torture of taking her out. I have thought about getting her a face mask and a pair of goggles to wear outside. She would look a little bizarre, but she at least she might be able to play in the grass.
For now I am sticking with indoor creativity versus trauma to her young self-esteem. A few days ago we spent the morning at the Science Center. We ran around, did puzzles, flew airplanes, played on computers, and I even got to protect Lilley and Django from the dinosaur (which I do not think they accept is not actually real).
While crossing a bridge that runs over the highway construction sight, Lilley stepped onto a thick, plexiglass window. Django did not understand that she was safe, and it was precious beyond description to watch his 2 1/2-year old self try to protect his sister from the peril of falling through the hole in the bridge.
By the time we were on our way back over the bridge to go home, Django had grown to trust the plexiglass window. We stepped onto it together, and looked at the yellow world below.