Derek's "run in" with a poisonous plant!

On Friday morning, Derek woke me up bright and early and whispered, "Mom, why do I look funny?" I looked at him and immediately knew he was having an allergic reaction to something. His eyes and whole face were red and swollen. He also had a big red swollen handprint on the side of his face where his hand was while he slept.

I gave him a dose of Benadryl and a bath. I wasn't overly concerned because other than his red face and eyes, he was doing fine. Also, Tyler used to get all kinds or weird allergies. He would get hives and swollen red eyes quite regularly.

A little while later Brooklyn woke up and she had 3 or 4 small yellow blisters on the side of her face! Kev and I were wondering, "What is the world happened to our children!?" Brooklyn's looked completely different than Derek's though and didn't look like an allergic reaction at all. I took her to the Pediatrician and she was prescribed some bacterial ointment.

Well, we went on with our day and Derek's symptoms slowly started to improve. However, while Brooklyn was outside playing, she noticed that the neighbor girl who lives next door had the same red face and rash like Derek! We quickly compared notes and realized that the day before the kids had been making "soup" out of a plant in our front yard! We called our other neighbor, and sure enough, their little girl had the same symptoms. Our neighbor brought the plant to a local nursery and found out it is in deed, poisonous!!!

So, here's the skinny...the plants name is Euphorbia Myrsinites also known as "Burro Tail" or "Donkey Tail". I personally think the plant is ugly...it was planted in our front yard before we moved in and we had been meaning to rip it out. I've actually seen in planted in other yards too. Here are some pictures...

Derek is doing fine now. He did end up getting a few little blisters. One of the neighbor girls had it pretty bad. She had a reaction similar to Poison Ivy and had blisters all over her face! Brooklyn said she played with the plant too, just not as much as the other kids. I think her little blisters were definitely from the plant as well! So...that is our latest drama!