Did That Really Happen?

Katie R.

Along with the million other things that go through my head on a daily basis, one thought that constantly arises is “why did I think I am responsible enough to be a parent”?  Luckily so far my children are surviving; however, something happens almost every day to make me say did that really happen?  Let’s just take two days last week for examples.

 Thursday

I dropped off Andrew to school. We actually made it to school with our backpack, breakfast eaten and dressed appropriately for the weather.  I thought “maybe I will actually be able to get some errands done during school.”   My plan was for Wes to fall asleep as I went to Wal-Mart, the grocery store and then stop at the bookstore to give him a bottle and grab a coffee.  I drove the long way to the store to ensure he was asleep and as I opened the door to put his carrier in the stroller the little darling opened his eyes and laughed.

I silently cursed but thought “well we’re her”, so in the stroller with some toys he went.  This of course was an epic fail.  After 10 minutes in the store he was screaming so I held him and used the stroller as a shopping cart which caused me to forget ½ of the items on the list.  He calmed down a little so I put him back in the stroller and we made it almost to the end of our grocery shopping before another meltdown.  No one was at the self-checkout so I scanned the groceries like a crazy woman and made a mad dash out of the store.  As I was taking a deep breath at the car, I realized all of my groceries were still at the self-checkout line.  So back in with a screaming baby I went, grabbed the groceries and left as fast as the stroller could go. 

 We finally got back to the mini-van and I threw the groceries in the back and took Wes out of his stroller and put him in the seat.  I buckled him in and he was reaching for the magnifying glass, so I went to give it to him and thought “what the hell am I doing he is too little for this”.  It was only then that I realized that I had put him in Andrew’s seat which meant he was facing forward (he is not even 6 months old).  Nothing like a little child endangerment to end a truly horrible shopping trip.

 

Sunday

So after our trip to Ohio Joe had to work the weekend.   It was a cold and rainy Sunday so we decided to stay in. We had a great morning playing, watching movies and just relaxing.  It then got the magic hour of naptime and as usual chaos ensued.

Andrew started freaking out about something so I told him to go into his room, turn off the lights and play with the shamrock glow sticks his Nana gave him.  He was told that after Wes had a bottle, I would come and read him a couple books.  These specific words were spoken “Do not chew on the glow sticks”. 

Wes, who had been super fussy all day because his first tooth came in, was 75% through his bottle when I heard a horrible scream.  I ran down the hall, dropped Wes in his crib and burst into Andrew’s room to see his face glowing.  Of course he had broken the glow stick and the “goo” went right into his eye.  I grabbed him and threw him in the shower -clothes and all.  He was screaming because it hurt which caused Wes to scream because his room is directly across from the bathroom. I threw water in Andrew’s face and took off his shirt, wet it and told him to hold it on his eye while I looked for the package and called Joe.  I was a complete wreck at this moment and was 99% sure my child was going to be blind in one eye and wear a patch like a pirate (which he would probably love).   Joe tried to ask me questions which I of course I found ridiculous and basically hung up on him to go throw some water back in Andrew’s face.  Finally, I found the package and it said non-toxic and “if gets in eye or face flush with water”.  So I tried to flush Andrew’s eye out, which of course is really easy to do to a toddler, and Joe called to say his colleague who works at poison control said it would be fine and just try to keep him in the shower for 15 minutes. 

 

Wes had now cried himself to sleep and Andrew calmed down and was not in pain.   We spent 15 minutes or so rinsing out his eye and he went into the living room with me.  I feel so guilty I told him he didn’t have to take a nap and that he could watch a movie.  He then promptly fell asleep sitting up so I carried him into his room.  He woke up as I laid him down and with terror in his eyes said “no mommy the glow things are in here”.  I told him that we threw them in the trash and he rolled over and went to sleep. I guess no clubbing in this kid’s future with his fear of glow sticks.

And to think that was only 2 of the last 7 days.