Poison Control...Again (and again, and again)!

CONVERSATION AT CARTER'S (last Friday)

Sales Lady: (hands Eddison a huge sticker)

Me: "Thank you! How nice! I think I'll hold onto it, though... He has a habit of eating anything he gets his hands on lately." (Nice little laugh to keep the situation light...)

Sales Lady: "Oh, I've given hundreds of those out and I've never seen a kid put one in his mouth!" (Umm...obviously she hasn't met MY kids!)

Me: "Oh..okay." Then I mumble..."I just don't want him to get sick from the glue or anything." (I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but this was a monstrous sticker with a LOT of smelly, sticky glue on the back!)

Sales Lady: "I have an 11 year old boy and I've never had to call Poison control."

Me: (In shock) "Really?!" . . . "I've had to call three times in the past month!"

MEANWHILE: Eddison now has the sticker half-way in his mouth and is sucking/chewing vigorously.


Luckily each of the aforementioned 'incidents' has had a happy ending...(my carpet might disagree). In order of occurrence we have:

1. Hyland's Teething Tablets: Jackson managed to find a hidden bottle in Eddison's room and ate the ENTIRE thing. This bottle happened to be about 3/4 full of tablets (that just so happen to taste like sugar). Jack came and got me and said, "I eat Eddie's candy...Show me!" (which means, "I want to show you!" Then he led me to Eddie's room where the empty bottle was on the floor with the lid off. I immediately called poison control and had to fill them in on how much, when, Jack's age, weight, etc. I was then transferred to the pharmacist who informed me that because they are homeopathic Jackson would have had to consume roughly SIX BOTTLES full of teething tablets before I'd start to notice signs of an overdose. Good to know! Happy ending!

2. Mylicon Gas Relief: Shortly after the teething tablet incident Jackson managed to climb up onto the counter and find these gas drops. He proceeded to drink the ENTIRE bottle. I experienced deja-vu as I dialed Poison Control. The verdict? Mylicon is an extremely mild and gentle medicine that can be taken up to 12 times per day. Luckily for Jackson's weight a 12 serving amount is equal to roughly a bottle of Mylicon. We're in the clear once again!

3. Crest Baking soda and Peroxide Toothpaste: This one is all about Eddison! After their bath, (which happened to be in the morning...an unusual occurrence since bath time is almost ALWAYS right before bedtime!) Jackson managed to reach the toothpaste from our bathroom counter and unscrew the cap. He then put the toothpaste onto the floor where Eddison - ever the scavenger - was waiting patiently for his next scrap. Faster than lightning he scooped up the toothpaste, put it into his mouth like a straw, and started chugging. I witnessed the whole incident (starting from the time Eddie picked up the tube) from across the room and grabbed the toothpaste from the little vulture as quickly as I could. However, I knew that with the force and speed of his sucking he had gotten AT LEAST two or three big swallows down. I decided that in the interest of keeping suspicions of me trying to poison my children to a minimum I'd wait to call Poison Control. Eddison was acting normal, after all, and had moved on to a game of chase with Jack. (I did grab my phone just in case, though!) Two minutes later I followed the boys into Jack's room where Eddie abruptly stopped mid-step and projectile vomited sky-blue foam. He took another step and repeated, and repeated, and repeated. Soon there were four or five respectable mini-lakes of blue foam on the carpet. I then dialed Poison Control for the third time in three weeks.

Luckily, despite it being apparently one of the worst types of toothpaste to ingest (thanks to the peroxide/banking soda combo), the only thing I was instructed to do was offer him lots of milk and keep an eye on him. Linda, the nurse I spoke with, agreed with me that the foam was probably produced in mass quantities because Eddie had consumed at least a cup of bath water during his bath and that when the baking soda mixed with the water the combination started to foam and irritate his stomach.

After a lot of scrubbing Justin was able to get most of the blue out. He'll be renting a rug doctor soon, though. :) (Oh - and despite the vomiting Eddison never appeared to feel sick and was completely fine the rest of the day. :-)

4. FertilAid Vitamins: Back to Jack! Tonight he approached me while spitting profusely with a mouth FULL of black saliva. The area surrounding his mouth was also black and it looked like he had been sucking on an ink pen that had exploded. I asked, "What happened?!" He then pointed down and I saw a chewed up capsule of FertilAid. "Where did you get that?!?!" I asked as I led him into the kitchen to clean up his face. "Ohhh...Right there!" He exclaimed, pointing to the medicine cabinet. Sure enough - there was the bottle, open with a few capsules scattered.

It seems The Hurricane now finds great satisfaction in pulling a chair in from the dining room, climbing onto the counter, and opening the medicine cabinet. Luckily very little, if any, of the vitamin was swallowed so we were blessed yet again with a happy outcome (thanks goodness they're meant to be swallowed and not chewed! It must have tasted TERRIBLE!). But enough is enough! Justin immediately attached a new magnetic lock to the medicine cupboard to ensure that NO MORE calls to Poison Control are needed from this house! Ever!