Some days the irony just bites me on the bum and I feel like a total fraud.
As I sat here tapping out yesterday’s post about ‘becoming a better parent’, the two and a half year old, who is also know as ‘Lucky I’m Cute’, managed to open the bottom of his brand new platypus money box, take out the little sachet of silica granules, open said sachet and eat it.
He did all this while sitting less then a metre behind me…. while I waxed lyrical about how I was going to do all these fabulous things to help my kids listen and be an awesome mother.
It was the five year old who spotted to trouble and yelled out just as Noah shoved a a tiny handful of granules into his mouth.
How Morgan knew that it wasn’t ok to eat the silica I do not know, but I’ll just chalk that down to previous awesome parenting, so I don’t feel so bad about the whole thing, OK?
Luckily we were able to get Noah to spit out what he had put in his mouth and then wash his mouth out with water, so I don’t think he actually ingested much, if any of the silica.
And even luckier for me, a quick google of the phrase ‘my toddler ate silica gel’ revealed that even if he had eaten some it wasn’t going to cause him any major damage, and I was able to avoid calling the Poison Info line and having to confess my bad parenting to a real person.
Instead I made him drink lots of water and watched him for signs of an upset stomach, which he happily helped me do by not going to sleep till 10pm.
When he finally lay sleeping beside and I crawled back out to the glow of the computer screen I almost didn’t hit publish on that post. But it was late, and it had been a bad week for blogging, and something told me that you guys would understand. So I published the post about being a better parent, even as I felt like the worst parent in the world, because sometimes we all have days when we make mistakes, when things happen, when irony bites us on the bum.
{image by Silver Spoon via wikkicommons}
I’ve so been there with my bundle of double trouble and silent little monsters when I’ve been busy . Don’t feel bad , I was coming over to read that listening post too.
Omg – do you know you answered my question in this image , my vacuum cleaner filter was full of those little balls today and I had no idea what they were. Freaky !
Love hearing about your real life family adventures, knowing that we are all in the same boat!
Toddlers definitely keep us on our toes don’t they!
I love reading your blog Kate. Very glad Noah is OK.
I read yesterday’s post and was about to comment on how “Your list was perfect and I was going to print it and tape it to my refrigerator”! Then…my daughter told me my son was overflowing the sink. So much for the comment, and the list didn’t get printed (maybe today!)
I can assure you this happens to the best of us. You aren’t worth your salt as a toddler until you’ve tasted silica gel.
Being a better parent would be much easier for me if my kids followed the script! Hope he (and you) are ok!
Oh, how this resonated with me! But you *know* he would’ve got into that gel one time or another if he was determined to … whether it was when you were blogging, or when you were on the loo. Toddlers will find a way :-)
Aren’t kids meant to prove us wrong??!! Or is that just me…..
This is why I love your blog! ou are so real- dont worry my toddler once at a whole bag, it pooed out the other end in tact!
I’m laughing, but only because my just-turned-three year old would do something exactly. like. that. So I totally get how you feel! Hope the weekend gets better!
Thank you for sharing the highs and lows of parenthood, and for keeping it real for the rest of us mere mortals. Now you know he’s OK, I hope you are too.
Parenting is full of moments like that isn’t it? My 5yo boy who has a number of disabilities just loves all the nasties! He will sprint into a public bathroom to get a quick squirt of liquid soap down, I can’t do any cleaning with him around as he just wants to squirt any cleaning products into his mouth. His drink of choice is bath water followed by washing up water and the coffee dregs. Lets not even go into his fascination with all hot things. Yes I’m a bit cranky these days, a bit hyper vigilant and a bit exhausted but we are getting there day by day. I actually enjoyed your post about doing better. Keep ’em coming! I need to be inspired regularly.
Thanks for posting this. In my house, when it gets quiet like this, my 10 month old is into the cat/dog food. If his big brother is paying attention, I starting hearing “Lucas, no eating cat food.” but by then, it is already too late.
Thank you for your honesty. I have a ten year old and a five year oldand so know that horrible feeling when you discover they’ve done something like this. Glad that everything came out alright in the end. My sister has raised five children and they’ve all tried and sometimes succeeded in putting all the icky/scarey stuff in various orifices at one time or another. The eldest now has her own toddlers to keep her on her toes!
Like when your child says they feel sick, and you say “no you will be fine” then school rings to tell you that they have vomited everywhere…oops!!
With a 4 year old and two year old twins, that sorta thing is a daily occurrence….
2 kg of flour through the house, miss 2 yelling ‘I cooking mummie’
30 or so mandarins peeled for their enjoyment. What do you do with 30 peeled mandarins?
Master 4 with a drinking straw in the chocolate topping.
Whole bottle of hair conditioner in master 4 hair ‘ spikey’
Large tub of Lucas paw paw ointment smeared on bum while in bed.
Shall I go on??
1.5 kg of washing powder tipped in the empty washing machine ( helping to put groceries away)
thank you, i love to read such stories, yes they do happen and it’s ok, especially in a tv free household…