I came up with a solution the other day for my dinner time dilemma. I set up Calvin's laptop in the playroom and then did a video conference with my computer near the kitchen. I could see and hear what the kids were doing and still be near the kitchen to hear the timer. Alex was so funny. He knew I could see him so he kept running up the stairs to see himself in the playroom but obviously he wasn't there!
Today, I decided to make blueberry muffins for lunch and during the 15 minutes that it took me to prepare the batter and fill the cups, I could hear the kids laughing and talking to each other. I thought they were in the basement playroom but I was wrong.
They were upstairs in our master bathroom, in the tub, running cold (THANK GOD) water. By the time I found them, there was about 3 inches of water in the tub and Alex had my razor in his mouth.
I silently removed them from the tub and wrapped them in towels. I wasn't mad and I didn't yell. I was terrified about what could have happened and with tears in my eyes I removed their wet clothes and told him to never take a bath without Mommy ever again. And that I would be devastated if something happened to them.
And then I prayed.
I thanked God for watching out for my family and for turning them away from the hot water and letting me get to them before something bad happened. And then I promised to watch them more closely.
We ate muffins with Daddy, who was working from home and then Alex disappeared from the table. Still shaken from the tub incident, I went looking for him and found him in our guest room with the mini blind cord around his neck.
LORD...I get it! Please stop testing me!
I sat down with the kids to play cars before nap time and the news was on. They were doing a segment about household dangers for children. There is a family in Utah that is missing their 18 month old son today because a TV fell on him. I realize that I have become lax with my children. I'm not being as careful as I should be and I need to do something about it.
I just spend the afternoon nap toddler proofing my house with this safety check list.
These little people are so curious right now and they can get into trouble so fast it is scary! Do me a favor and print off the checklist and make sure your house is in good order. One of my biggest mistakes is that we never baby/toddler proofed the guest room because it is a room that is never used.
And this concludes my public service announcement....I'm going to have a glass of wine now!
This post literally made me gasp. Oldest Boy is home sick from school today and he asked what was wrong.
ReplyDeleteYou poor mother. I truly know how you feel. Thank God everyone's okay - you too! Don't be too hard on yourself. You're brave and kind to share your story. Maybe someone reading this will childproof something that hadn't been prior, and you'll prevent an injury... or worse.
Go have your glass of wine, Honey. You deserve it.
xo, Chris
Thank goodness nothing happened to them.
ReplyDeleteI'm telling you, put locks on your doors. Or leashes on your kids.
Oh Connie - I know how you feel. I have this theory that we almost kill our children at least once a week. Sometimes it's something we do, sometimes it's something we didn't do, and sometimes it's something that we never saw and will never even know about. But in the end we just do the best we can - and you are doing far more than most.
ReplyDeleteNow go get drunk.
Wow, what a wake up call.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing more children aren't hurt though. think about when we were kids, they didn't have half the "baby proofing" stuff they do now! You definitely deserve a goblet of wine tonight.
I have one moment that i'm not proud of and it still makes me shutter! I had been wrapping presents for Christmas and left the scissors on the floor, along with some paper, so things got quite and i peeked over to see him playing with the wrapping paper... so i continued to get ready, only to have my husband go, "OH MY GOD." and snatch scissors out of his hand that he had turned pointy side up and was smashing it against the floor. Oh did I ever ever ever feel like a bad mom. I still feel sick thinking what he could have done with the scissors. :(
that is so so scary. Yeah, get rid of those cords....I had to get rid of mine and never thought to do so until a friend of mine lost her neice to a horrible accident with blinds. I also have my kids dressers anchored to the wall.
ReplyDeleteOh my, what a day! I've definitely had a few of those myself. Even though my girls are 7 and 14, there are still dangers lurking, but thankfully I don't have to be quite so vigilant now.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your wine and I love your footer!
Oh Connie! How upsetting - but at least everyone is okay! I heard about that little baby on the news too - so sad! It's great that you have that link about babyproofing. It was a good idea to have the laptop downstairs with the camera to see what they were doing. We do that here - even though our kids are a little older I still like to see what's going on.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a great mom.
((hugs))
Jen
I'm so glad they're ok! I think all moms have those scary moments, where you realize that if you'd been a second later or an inch further away or just a little less "lucky," something terrible could have happened. For our own sanity, we just say a prayer of thanks, vow to be more careful, and move on. Or we beat ourselves up over it and give our kids up for adoption, like I sometimes feel I should do.
ReplyDeleteI like your webcam idea - that was really cute!
I hope your wine helped you relax a bit after the kiddos were asleep!
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel. I am constantly worrying about something that could go wrong, just part of my personality. In fact, I try to make myself calm down.
You are doing a great job! I am so glad both kids are doing great.
What a scary day! It is so true...we do get very lax thinking that everything will be okay. I even go upstairs to shower while Z watches TV downstairs. I keep the door open so I can hear him but there is soooo much he could get into. Thanks for including that list...I will check it out.
ReplyDeleteOh no! I am a VERY lax mamma as well and need to cut that out.
ReplyDelete