We started off today with a bit of excitement and trepidation…today, we were going to get Mr. Charm his First Haircut.
Shocking, I know.
I still don’t really want to cut his hair, but even I can see that it hangs in his eyes and bothers him. I’m just sad that he won’t look like a baby any more, even though I know he is about as far from a baby as can be! I’m just not ready to let him grow up, honestly.
So, I sucked it in and made the plan: we were going to take him to the barber shop where the Geek had his first ever hair cut.
If I have to do it, I’m making an event of it, doggone it!
So, we got up, had breakfast, went through the long process of trying to get three adults and two children dressed and ready to go, and were just about to head out the door when we realized…it was quiet. Too quiet.
When it’s quiet with Mr. Charm around, it can only mean trouble.
We went looking, and we didn’t have to look very far. He was just around the corner from us, a mere 45 seconds after the last adult had left the room, digging through my Mom’s purse. He was holding a travel Aleve tube in his hands, one that Mom uses to stick a few random medications she only needs occasionally.
And it was empty of all but one pill.
ARGH!
Will this kid never learn?
Quick! Triage the situation! Check his mouth! There are pills. Swipe them out. What pills were in the bottle? How many of them were there? Rinse his mouth out under the faucet. Call Poison Control. And…you guessed it – head to the ER.
Again.
The problem is that Mom doesn’t need these pills regularly; she keeps about five or six Librax in her purse for “just in case” situations. So even if we’d been able to get an accurate count of the pills we swiped out of his mouth, there was no way of knowing if she started with five, or six, or even seven pills. So, no way to know if he’d actually been able to swallow one or not!
Better safe than sorry, the Poison Control people say. The effects of this medication would be tiredness, unresponsiveness, and lowered heart rate. Possibly nothing bad, but possible scary stuff. So, while Mom and the Geek load the kids and the car, I quick make up two bottles of formula, grab some leftovers and stick it all in a cooler (so Mr. Charm and I can eat on the road, if necessary), and grab my breastpump.
Off we go, only this time, when we checked in they were busy and we had to wait for a room.
While we were checking in, Mr. Charm was clinging to the Geek. He swatted at me when I tried to hug, kiss, or even touch him, didn’t want to get down and play, wasn’t saying “HI” to every single person he saw…well, that seems unresponsive to me, right? So we were glad we came.
However, in the hour long wait for an ER room to open up for us, normal Mr. Charm returned with a vengeance.
He played chase with Grandma. He ran up to other kids in the room and tried to play. He giggled, grinned, shrieked (one time scaring everyone in the waiting room), tried to run out the doors, tried to run back into the triage area, RAN RAN RAN like a maniac, and, basically, was acting normal for him.
Yes, that’s normal for him. Feel sorry for me yet?
So we decided that he was acting the way he was in the triage area because he had just woken up from a very short nap in the car, and sometimes just isn’t that happy to have been woken up. Because his behavior? Was the opposite of tired, unresponsive, and low heart rate.
He was fine. He hadn’t taken any pills after all.
Except, we were already admitted to the hospital. There may be some procedure by which you can convince them you don’t want to stay and can leave, but we don’t know it and figured it would be just as easy to go through with seeing the doctor. So, we waited.
When we got back to the room, finally, the nurse came in and asked a few questions, watching Mr. Charm explore the room with his usual vigor. She laughed and left, sending the doctor in after her.
Just as Daddy lost all patience, laid Mr. Charm on the bed and told him to STOP TOUCHING BUTTONS!
He also watched for a few minutes, asking questions, and finally admitted that he has two boys, aged 2 and 3, and they’re very active….but that they aren’t as ‘curious’ as Mr. Charm seems to be! So he did a quick physical exam and proclaimed that we were probably right, that he hadn’t taken any pills, and sent us on our way.
So excited that he can reach the sink for some Water Play!
The original plan for the day was to get the haircut in our nearby small town, come back home for lunch, then drive into the Big Town for some errand running and be home about 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. at the latest.
It was now almost 3:00 p.m., we hadn’t eaten lunch, and the only chance we had to regain some of our day was to eat at the hospital and go run our errands as quickly as possible. With gas costing as much as it does these days, I hate to waste a trip into town.
So we went to the cafeteria, where I heated up some leftover soup, mashed potatos, and hamburger patty for Mr. Charm and me to eat, the Geek and Mom got sandwiches, and Mr. Happy got a bottle.
Then off to errand running land we went. Mr. Charm ate almost a whole cantaloupe worth of dehydrated cantaloupe while we were in Home Depot, so I made a mental note to buy more cantaloupe to dry!
We did try to squeeze in a haircut, but the place was already booked up for the day. I looked at Mom and the Geek (the two biggest nags about getting his hair cut) and told them – with a straight face – “See? God doesn’t want us to cut Mr. Charm’s hair!”
They didn’t believe me.
Humpf.
We got back home just in time for us to cook dinner, which we ate late, and then start the bedtime routine for the kids. So, we accomplished nothing today, really, except to become even more familiar with our local emergency room!
Oh, and to decide that ALL pills must be kept in a locked container at all times. This is ridiculous!
Do any of you have toddler who seem to be magnets for disaster? How do you deal? Please tell me they grow out of this at some point!
