I remember watching “Please, don’t eat the daisies” when I was young with my mother. You know, the one with Doris Day and the crazy boys that eat anything and get into everything? I kept thinking, sure but no one is actually that crazy…

Oh, how little did I know.

I was inside my house when the door opens and my youngest boy(2yrs) comes in. He had been outside with his dad while the oldest was in his room for whining. I am waiting for the maybe hundredth request of that night.

My son, “mom, is this mine?”

I glanced down at what he was holding and said something like “sure, please go back outside”. Then it dawned on me that his hands were purple and he was holding the source of the purple hands in his little fingers.

That started a frantic search for the plant he got his “blue berries” from. I recognized the berry and I knew that I had been told all my life they are poisonous but of course the name of the plant was alluding my husband and I!

I love google people!

I started looking up various things online until I found the name.

Pokeweed

I was trying to keep calm when I looked up the toxicity. “Less then ten will not kill an adult” are you kidding me!!! He is not an adult he is a small little kid!

I decided to call poison control, I so did not want to add poison control to my list of things parents with crazy children have to do.

She asked how many he ate, so I asked him. My little man starts counting his little purple fingers, “one, two, three”. I told her maybe three but that he is only two. And she informs me more then five and they need to go to the hospital.

So then began the watching and waiting and feeding(he needed to have something in his stomach). He was pretty happy about the food.

He ended up not getting sick at all, praise God! I think he only took a bite of that one…I did not know if I wanted to hug him or ban him from coming out of his room ever again.

This plant is everywhere so please make sure you and your children know what it looks like and that it not safe.

The unripe berries are green and the ripe ones are deep purple, they used to be used to dye clothing. So if your kids hands are purple find out what they have been into.

And please, please don’t eat the berries!