September 13th, 2006 by Mrs Eaves
We all have them - you know, those moments you’d like to erase from your parental resumé…the moments where you get a little distracted, aren’t paying attention, or suffer from just plain bad judgement. Luckily, kids are amazingly resilient (and forgiving).
Here are a few of ours (and to be fair, I’ve included stupid moments of both Bos and I):
- When October was 9 or 10 months old, and already quite mobile, Bos took her for an outing to a friend’s house. They returned home happy as clams and we all went about our normal afternoon routines. A little while later, October was sitting on my lap when she begins to have a bout of the worst watery diarrhea I’ve ever been privy to. Thinking it was perhaps a nasty case of the stomach flu, I asked Bos how she had been acting earlier in the day. Somewhere in this conversation, it comes out that Bos had neglected to mention that October had gotten into a patch of poppies at the friend’s house and had ingested an undetermined amount. After a call to poison control and Bos receiving a severe beating, all was well.
- Several years ago, we went to the Oak Ridge High School flea market. Spotz was probably two or so, and enjoying a ride in his stroller. We stopped at a booth and began looking at whatever crap had managed to catch our eyes. In order to get a closer look at the crap, we absentmindedly let go of the stroller. We never even knew he was gone. Imagine our surprise and embarrassment when a few moments later, a kind stranger returned Spotz to us after he had coasted down the hill a good 20 feet or so.
- Lugnut has generally been the more fearless of the Cemestos kids. Where the two older ones were always afraid of the vaccuum, Lug would giggle with glee every time I got it out. One day, a little less than a year ago, I was vaccuuming in some nooks and crannies while Lug was toddling around. The vaccuum itself was in an upright position, and I was using one of the hose attachments. With my back to both Lug and the vaccuum, I went about my business until I heard a strange sound coming from the vaccuum. It sounded like I had sucked something big up, even though I know I hadn’t. It wasn’t until I heard Lugnut’s piercing scream that I realized what had happened. I had vaccuumed up Lug’s little hand. In all his wonderful curiosity, he had put his hand under the vaccuum and gotten it stuck in the rotating brush mechanism. Fortunately, he walked away with just a few scrapes - and though he’s never attempted to do it again, the incident didn’t dampen his love of the vaccuum.
So, there you have it. A few of our Stupid Parent Moments…now…what are yours?
September 13th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
Once when my son was 4 or 5 months old I was preparing him a bottle. I gave him the bottle and he greedily sucked and sucked. Soon his face was red and he started screaming. Apparently I broke the first rule, check the temp before you give to the baby. The milk wasn’t too hot… no, it was a different issue. There was no hole in the nipple! I immediately swapped out the nipples and he hungerly sucked it down. I still feel bad.
September 13th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
I have one from my parents also, can I post them.
I really kick myself in the butt about my teenage daughter, since I hate the trip to the ATM machine. It seems I always go to that place for her also. Unexpected girl things I guess, but I can never foresee her spending.
So I need to go to the store for the bread milk trip and needed lunch money for myself tomorrow. I gave her a twenty to pick up two gallons of milk and two loaves of bread and that was the last I saw of it. You know it; she came back with a cake and some candy for the boys. I was financially flubbed.
September 14th, 2006 at 6:10 am
ohhhh, so many moments to choose from…
When the children were 6,8,10, and 12, we took them to Canada on Spring Break to learn to ski, along with another family (totaling four adults and six kids). We arrived in Montreal about 8 p.m. after two days of driving, and stopped briefly to check in to a hotel; Hubby stayed in the car with the children while I went in to pick up the room key and inquire about nearby restaurants (no more McDonands, please).
It was snowing hard, with about 18″ on the ground already. The trusty Suburban does not have 4-wheel drive, so we were relieved to learn that there was an excellent family-friendly buffet about a mile away, and we were off again. It was a treacherous mile as the roads had not been recently plowed, but we finally made it. We all piled out and the kids were already dashing toward the buffet when the other mom asked, “where’s Delta?”
My heart stopped. She was gone. I traded a few quarters for toonies, called the hotel number on the back of the card key from a pay phone, and quickly learned that yes, there was a six year old left behind at the hotel. Somehow, she had slipped out of the car unnoticed.
We went back through the driving snow and found her sitting on the lap of a nice French Canadian desk clerk, happily snacking on chocolate and bottled water, and learning French.
I don’t think my heart started beating again for an hour.
September 14th, 2006 at 7:30 am
I’m sure I’ve got plenty, but the first one that comes to mind…
We were at Comp USA when MastaG was about… 2? He’d been walking around the store, but we put him in the stroller while we were in line. We headed out the store to the car. There was a handicapped ramp, but the drop to the parking lot from the sidewalk was only a couple of inches, so I just pushed him toward it. The front wheels hit, the stroller tripped, and MastaG fell out face first onto the parking lot because I’d forgotten to buckle him in.
September 14th, 2006 at 7:52 am
Heres a good one,
MastaG and I were taking Pigpen home in the Volvo from GAC’s folks place in Knoxville. Pigpen was all sorts of sleepy, and passed out before we got far. I took a turn, and saw Pigpen’s carseat in the backseat flop right over, child and all. Turns out I strapped Pigpen into the seat with the child straps, instead of bringing the seatbelt over like the booster seat I’d been using it for for months.
The funny thing is, Pigpen stayed asleep the whole time!
September 14th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
I’ll add another to The Missus’ list. Almost a whole year ago, on Lugnut’s 1st birthday, we’d just brought out the cake. We were singing happy birthday and the candles were lit. When it came time for Lug to blow out the candles I leaned forward. Now I know I was going to blow the candles out, but I didn’t anticipate lug’s natural baby tendency to grab. The next thing I knew he’d grabbed the flaming candle (put it out) and was crying. This is even documented in living digital color!
To add to The Missus’s story about October, here’s something more. The next day we were schedule to fly to California and here she was with the hershey squirts. Yep, the Missus wasn’t happy w/ me that day.
September 16th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
We lost an autistic child at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.