'It hot!"

We had been to a parade and even though the kids, at least my son, consumed countless Tootsie Rolls, people were hungry. So when the waiter brought the pizza we ordered to our table, we started divvying out pieces to the kids. My 2-year-old Ben was closest, so he got his first.

And then I heard a scream unlike any of Ben's usual reactions.

I saw the cheesy, saucy pizza topping down the front of Ben. Then he said, "It hot! It hot!"

Still unsure of what was happening, I pulled off his shirt, thinking maybe it was burning him. As soon as I did that, I realized the cheesy, saucy pizza topping was on his leg. I'm pretty sure while I was removing the wrong article of clothing, Ben tried to swipe the mess from his leg and pushed it up his shorts instead of removing it. Or maybe the cheese just got stuck on his shorts. Whatever ensued prolonged my boy's screaming ...

And then I realized why.

This picture taken about an hour after the incident.

The cheesy, saucy pizza topping was burning Ben's leg. It got red and tender immediately. I just held my boy, who was wearing only a diaper and Crocs. He kept saying, "It hot!" and then later "I burned." The waiter and restaurant manager took turns bringing me things {Solarcaine spray, antibiotic cream, ice, a cold rag ...}, hoping to provide some relieve. I turned to Greg and I mostly jokingly said, "They don't want us to sue them." Seriously, it was a legitimate accident. But, really, probably so was McDonald's hot coffee.

Even though pizza has been one of his favorite foods, he didn't want it, even much later when it wasn't hot at all. So he chose some cold foods from the salad bar to eat. He hasn't seemed bothered by the burn since, although he's not a fan of my gently rubbing antibiotic cream on it.

I'm hoping he doesn't abandon pizza forever. But, either way, I'm impressed with my boy, who continues to amaze me with his toughness. Just don't ask me what happened to cause the boo-boo on his chin or the scrapes on his arm. I have absolutely no idea. 

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