Aqua Dots

Recently, at a friends house, we discovered Aqua Dots.

I immediately put them on my Christmas shopping list. For Abe. For Stella. For my nieces.

Abe was hooked. He spent much time making a master piece. A Pumpkin.

When it was time to leave Allie's house, his pumpkin wasn't quite dry enough to bring home. We promised him that he could get it the next day.

Well, the next day turned into the next day and then the next. It's been almost 2 weeks.

I am not kidding when I say that every day Abe has asked for us to go by Allie's and pick up that Pumpkin. I have been promising him we will get around to it. We just haven't.

Then I get a call from my friend last night. She has thrown all Aqua Dots in the trash. Including my son's treasured pumpkin.

Why?

Because of this breaking news. It seems Aqua Dots have a chemical, which converts to the date rape drug when ingested.

At first, I thought Jamie had overreacted by throwing them all away. Especially, the pumpkin. Abe is big enough not to put them in his mouth.

Then Randy pointed out that the night that Abe played with the Aqua Dots at their house, Jamie (a mother of two) had been sucking on them herself. Trying to get the glue to loosen to pull apart the orange dots for the pumpkin. He didn't want them in our house, either!

We had real tears last night. Over the Picasso Pumpkin. Over the masterpiece Abe could never re-create. All the time he spent on that art project...wasted.

I had tears, too.

What am I going to put on my shopping list for the little girls that doesn't contain lead, the date rape drug or finger amputation?