While most of me is thrilled by the sights of leafy, blossoming spring outside the window, there is also a part that is silently cursing. Because along with the beauty of my lilac bushes, peonies, and catmint are the neighborhood army of maples, oaks, and birches silently raining down pollen on my poor, allergic Bear. We've had a fairly mild allergy season so far, with dry breezy days interspersed with rainy ones that effectively damp down the pollen. Until this weekend.
We haven't had rain in a week. The oak pollen is measuring in the Very High (also known as the Holy Crap) range. Bear, despite being on prescription allergy meds, eye-drops, and nasal spray, is a mess.
We had planned a family bike ride yesterday along an ocean path, thinking it would be fine as long as we weren't in a wooded area. One look at Bear yesterday morning, and we switched the bike ride for a trip to the mall. Her eyes were swollen completely shut and itchy like they'd been infested with fire ants. It was going to be an indoor day.
It turned into a great day. We browsed through Target, picked up some summer clothes for the girls at the mall, ate lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant, and moseyed home via the LL Bean flagship store. It was such a great day, that I kind of forgot why we'd switched our plans in the first place.
So when we dropped by our friends' house on our way into town, and the girls piled out of the van to show off their new water-filled glitter balls (these are the kinds of things they choose to spend their money on - sigh...), I didn't give it a second thought. Bear spent maybe ten minutes on their driveway, bouncing her ball. Maximum. When she started sneezing on the way home, I thought ohhh, shit. Allergies. Right.
Once we got home, she was in full-blown Allergy Apocalypse Mode: sneezing, wheezing, itchy-eyed, and miserable. And this after ten minutes of exposure. I can't begin to imagine how much worse it would have been if we'd actually tried the bike ride. We probably would have wound up at the emergency room.
Today? Complete house arrest. And because she's a kid, and has the memory of a gnat, she's irritated at being kept indoors on a beautiful day. I'm irritated because I'm the mom, the one who's supposed to make things all better for her, and I can't do a single thing to make this better for her.
