Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Things that don't belong in your mouth

Today as I was walking down the stairs, I saw a bunch of colorful little circles all over the floor a the bottom of the stairs. I couldn't quite place what they were at first, but it didn't take me long to figure it out. As I turned into the family room at the bottom of the stairs, I saw Rylee sitting on the couch with a bunch of wrappers all around her, and then I glanced quickly into the kitchen and saw that one of her little red chairs was pushed up against the counter in the corner by the sink. Rylee had climbed up onto the counter and taken a bottle of Tums and a pack of gum out of the cabinet and was enjoying the fruits of her labors. I estimate that she downed probably 1/3 a bottle of Tums and close to an entire pack of gum. At first I was worried because I remembered calling the pediatrition when Rylee had diarrhea a month or so ago and thought that the pediatrition had told me not to give her Tums because it has aspirin in it, but then I remembered that that was Pepto Bismol. I decided to call the doctor anyway, just to make sure that I shouldn't worry but, when I called, the doctor's office was closed for lunch. I decided I'd just call again later. In the mean time I got lunch for Rylee and played with her a bit. Then, about an hour later she told me she had to go "potty poo poo" so we ran upstairs to the bathroom. I've never heard such a runny explosion out of a little bum! It took me a few minutes to remember the Tums and gum incident, but when I did, I figured that this must have been the cause. This reminded me to call the doctor's office; they referred me to poison control. The lady at poison control told me not to worry, that Rylee would be fine, but said that the sorbitol in sugarfree gum would definitely cause diarrhea.
Shortly afterwards, Rylee and I were painting with watercolors. She started putting the paintbrush in her mouth, so I told her to take it out and warned her that if she did it again I would put the paint away. A few seconds later the brush was back in her mouth, so I quickly grabbed the paintbrushes, paint, and coloring book from her to put them away. When I turned back around 10 seconds later, I saw Rylee drinking the water from the bowl that we'd been using for the watercolors!
It's going to be a miracle if this girl makes it through her childhood without having to get her stomach pumped...

1 comment:

  1. Maybe there is something in paint that she is craving in her diet. I have heard that is why kids eat dirt...because there is some kind of mineral in it hat there body is telling them they need. That is too funny. She sounds like a funny girl.

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