Gimme a Break, Gimme a Break

Do you ever sit down after an especially tough and hectic week when you finally have a moment to yourself and think “Gosh, I could really use a break from life.”

I’ve had this thought off and on this whole week, but today was the final straw. I’ve just put Gideon down after getting off the phone with poison control (for the second time this week). Somehow he’s grown and was able to fish the Spray-N-Wash off the dryer. I don’t know if he squirted himself in the eye or if he got it on his hand and then wiped it right into his eyeball.

All I know is that he came walking into the living room where I was folding laundry on the sofa, and, holding out the spray, said, “Uh, oh.” Then he commenced to crying and rubbing his eye.

Jeff doesn’t know about this latest yet because I knew he’d have a mini heart attack and rush home. Instead, I wisely called my brother’s wife - - the doctor brother - - since they are in town visiting Alex and his family before heading down our way tomorrow. They consulted and decided it would be best to call poison control.

Have you ever called them? They really ought to be 911 dispatchers because they are so incredibly calm. I noticed that when I had to call on Tuesday after Gideon had somehow found the Lotrimin and had eaten it (yes, it’s for jock itch but works REALLY well on the worst kind of diaper rashes). I was told not to worry unless he’d eaten like 8 of the tubes.

However, the advice I was given today, I had already been trying. Have you ever tried to hold down a screaming two-year-old and run a continuous stream of water in his eye for 15 minutes? It’s nearly impossible. I switched to sloshing water in his eye from the sink…but even holding him still in this position was mostly unsuccessful.

All this transpired after two trips to the doctor because Scarlett had caught his cold and subsequently, her first ear infection. She wasn’t sleeping, wouldn’t be comforted, etc. Which woke Gideon up crying for several nights and he wouldn’t go back to sleep for 2 and then 3 hours. Talk about a miserable mama. That was two nights of no sleep, and then no nap because little Mr. Trouble decided he wasn’t going to nap (thus the Lotrimin incident). So, then back to the doctor he went where we discovered (surprise surprise) he wasn’t any better. Even that was a trial…went to CVS to pick up his medicine, got all the way home and realized his medicine was all powder and unmixed, whereupon, I had to go all the way back to CVS, where Jeff called me to hurry home because Gideon was crying and screaming for me. By then, it was WAY past his bedtime, he’d not napped, and we couldn’t choke his medicine down. Talk about a disaster of an evening.

I need a break from my life. There were other incidents, too, but I’m too tired to recount them. Is tomorrow Friday? Can I go ahead and say TGIF? Or is it too early?