I was reading through the post of another blogger who was sharing how having put her young toddler to bed he had got up and sprinkled baby powder over the whole room. From my perspective I can see both sides here, the child having a great time making such a mess and the Mother frantic about clearing up and the health implications for the child.
It took me back to some memorable and scary moments when my son was a toddler. He always woke early and liked to start his day before we did. Added to that he always wanted to know how things worked. I'll stick with 5 of his memorable episodes here.
1. Hearing him awake I went in to investigate and found his face smeared with a red syrup. He had drunk a bottle of cough mixture. Now this cough mixture was on a high shelf above his cot. Somehow he had managed to climb up and knock it down. The rest of the day was spent in casualty having his stomach pumped out before spending some time in the poisons unit. It is hard to explain the guilt one feels as a Mother when something like this happens. If only, if only, if only! A hard way to learn a lesson. When it was time for discharge the following day we knew he was better as the nurses were glad to see him go. He had been turning the winding gear that altered the position of some of the patients beds.
2. The second episode found us responding to a call "I have swallowed a key"! It took us a while to realise that this key was a Wing nut that he had unscrewed from the side of the cot. (Don't think cots are made like this anymore!) Another trip to casualty for X-rays followed by a long wait watching for the appearance of the Wing nut once more.
3. Once he moved from cot to bed and was much more ambulant and was able to go downstairs alone we were in for some more fun! Arriving in the kitchen one morning my dear son was sitting on the floor in a pool of one dozen broken eggs, with the fridge door open happily smearing the yolks around and making them 'pop'!
4. On a visit to town one day when in a large department store we endured an embarrassing time when darling son went to investigate the mannequins in the open fronted windows. He was wanting to see if they were real or not. However in his enthusiasm he knocked the first model over and if you have ever seen a stack of dominoes fall then you get the picture. Of course today these windows are completely closed in and locked.
5. We had taken the children to the Pantomime and at the end he wanted to see where all the characters had gone. We were close to the front and before we had even had time to react he ran on to the stage and slipped under the heavy fire curtain just as it was coming down.
I must add that he was never a naughty or rebellious child but extremely bright and curious. However he did give his Mum some hairy moments to remember.
What memorable and scary moments have other bloggers had to endure, do tell?
22 comments:
I remember being at London Zoo, losing sight for about 2 minutes of my 3 year old daughter...and finding her in deep conversation with an elephant, gazing up at him.
Those hospital visits must have been awful but they can do things in the blink of an eye. Know what you mean about the guilt!
My funniest memories are from my brother when he was about three when I used to take him to church. Once he got stuck behind one of those big old fashioned radiators and screamed. Another time he asked in a very loud voice as the collection plate was passed along "How much do I take?" They asked me to stop bringing him until he was older and I was relieved to tell Mam what they'd said so I wasn't embarrassed again.
Well Barbara you had some hair raising moments all right with your son, is he as bad today or has he quietened down!He probably says he had an inquisitive mind!
I'm grinning here thinking of you and your curious little guy. Does he know that you're talking about him today? Ha!
Let's see, my son broke his right and his left arm in different incidents before his fifth birthday. Try explaining that to the doctors in the ER! And, yes, I remember the guilt.
I have so many that it is hard to know which to tell about, but your incident with the eggs made me remember the time I had my niece and nephew over night and woke to find them emptying the refrigerator because they said they were hungry. I think they were about 2 and 3 years of age at that time. Children are curious and it is the only way they learn and oh my are they ever quick. Thanks for the SMILES this afternoon.
I have some of those tales to tell about our son, David. One is about his climbing out of his window, at age 5, when he had been put down to nap and going out into the woods that was behind the immediate row of houses across the street from us. Needless to say, we were in a bit of a panic until he was found.
He was also good about peeking under the dressing room dividers when I had him in with me trying on clothes. A little bit of a shock to the near naked woman on the other side getting ready to try a dress on!!!
Ph, the joys of motherhood.
Those are some funny...and of course, scary memories!
Let's see...I have about 3. One day when Lauren was still crawling, I was doing something in the kitchen and when I turned around to check on her, I was HORRIFIED to see some spider legs protuding from her mouth and they were still wiggling! Another time, around the same era, I was changing her diaper after a bowel movement (for lack of a better term) and found a dead fly in the contents. And the last...she was about 3 I think. We were in a store and I had been talking to a friend. I was watching Lauren out of the corner of my eye...or so I thought. When I was finished talking to my friend, and turned my full attention back to Lauren, I realized her breath smelled like a pine forest. I exclaimed, "What did you eat???" and she proceeded to show me a "pea" which turned out to be a green bath oil bead! That one required a trip to the emergency room, but fortunately they didn't have to pump her stomach.
Wow, Barbara. Those were some LONG LOST memories! Hope you have a GREAT week!
So many memories! With four precocious children, we never lacked for excitement! Living as we did in the jungles of New Guinea, there were so many interesting places to explore. DS1 and DD1 were aged 5.5 and 3.5 and set out to explore the jungle trail to the native gardens. When they got lost they just sat and cried until someone found them and brought them home. We didn't realize they had disappeared! DS2 didn't cry when he rode his trike into the 5 ft deep 'pig ditch'. He continued to play and sing at the top of his lungs. He said later, he knew somebody would hear him and come get him out! Ah, it's a wonder any of them lived to adulthood!
Never mind your son. How ever did you survive his toddlerhood?!!!
I am glad that they are just memorable monents now with mine.
Patsy
Boys are like that!!! I am sure you earned every gray hair that you own.
We had four sons (and one daughter) and I found that the boys were always into things. I guess it is their nature. And....yes, it is always the "if onlys" that make you more cautious. He survived, as did you, and that is the outcome that we all enjoy. Too many mothers are so overprotective of their children and I feel so sorry for those children.
LOL He sounds a wonderful character, I hope he's retained his curious nature :)
I've just seen a very different side to Peter!!!
My daughter had an 'incident' with a mannekin one day when she was 5. She was fascinated by the one of a little girl so went up and took its hand which promptly fell off! I was round the other side of the displays so just told her to put it back. She then appeared holding the whole arm as when she'd tried to do as I'd asked, the arm fell off. I told her to go and put that back and she next returned holding the head!!!! I tried hard to remain stern feeling it was a lesson she must learn to not touch things, and told her to just go and return it and to leave the big dolly alone. We left the shop a couple of minutes later and as we passed the mannekin it was hard not to laugh out loud as the arm and hand were arranged very carefully at the bottom with the head between its feet! I didn't return to the store for some time!!! My mother was mortified!
I woke up once to find my son had shook vim all over the bathroom, my bedroom and me while i was asleep. That was one of many incidences, After that we put locks on all the doors so he could only get out of his bedroom and into ours early in the morning.
Jenny <><
Did you get the powder story from my blog? I don't remember posting it, but it happened in our family too. Oh what a mess. No matter how much sweeping, moping, and wiping up was done over the years there was still residue of baby powder left the day we moved out of the house.
It is nice to know I didn't raise the only Holy Terrors!
...the stories I could tell! :D
LOL what a lad! My 2 could climb like monkeys before they could walk so a lot of picnics in the park with other Mums and Toddlers were spent with me at the top of the climbing frame wishing I had the sort of children who would sit and stay.
Son was about 4/5 ish when he came down the track on his new bike and straight into the 10ft deep nature pond I'd had dug about a month before, still cycling. (Got both out ok)
Hi Barbara....just giving it another try here.
This child will give you many more laughs Kids are adorable..
yvonne
LoL...I had my hands full too with the first son. Started off in the womb...very active baby =]
His first preschool program, mom and I were in the front row of the church while my son was performing with his class on stage. He was having a hard time standing there dressed up as a Chritmas Box, and he kept playing with the girl in front of him hair bow. She finally reached backed and hit him...the constant restlessness did not cease. By the end of the program, I was mortified, so when everyone else clapped,(and of coarse they were all giggling at him) he yelled out "Hey Mom, your suppose to clap too!" Mother and I just slumped further down into our seats. On the way out shaking hands with the Pastor he looked at me, and looked at my son and remarked "Oh, so that is YOUR little boy." Yep that was my son!
He scared other moms to death by his daring stunts on outdoor play gyms...at 2.
Funny he now works for a company called Outward Bound that takes people on extreme outdoor adventures in the wilderness. His physical activity level has not ceased or appeared to have slowed down :)
I thought I was the only person who sprinkled baby powder - I remember doing it when I was about 3 or 4 all over my grandad's bathroom and then trying to blame my older cousin.
OMW, this post sounds like I could have written it. Although I have 3 girls, our littlest one is just like a boy. If she's quiet, then she's getting into mischeif. We've had one emergency hospital visit so far, an hopefully the last. Our 2 1/2 yr old (Hannah) got into some holistic sleep aid pills that I had near the bedstand. I didn't think she could unscrew a cap. Well, I was proven wrong. Luckily since they were natural they were not harmful to her and she did not have to have her stomach pumped, but it sure gave me a scare and a lot of guilt.
What a bright child to have, I am sure he went on to conquer the world well! Lucky he had such a patient mother who understood he was but exploring and not a "bad boy"! ;-)
With four children, I always say "but for the grace of God" they thrive!
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