Poisoned by Cupcakes - A Narrow Miss

Vivian turns one year on Tuesday, and she's been keeping us hopping lately. This Saturday she tried to reach Robbie's laptop keyboard with all of her might. She finally stretched out of my arms far enough to give it one good whack, and after the screen turned black everything reset oriented sideways. It took Robbie more than a few minutes to fix it, and upon rebooting the next day the same problem occurred.

Santa gave the big girls some small bottles of Bath and Body Works antibacterial hand sanitizer that attach to their school bags. Ev received one that smells like cupcakes, and I've caught Vivian messing with the bottle a few times. The scent is really quite incredible,and it is colored a pretty pink. She got to the bottle while the bag hung from its proper hook down low in the coat closet when that door was left ajar. However, after doing her Letter S homework, Evelyn made the mistake of leaving her bag on the floor by her chair. We were in the living room watching the Super Bowl, and Vivian crawled away to the dining room. I found her with the small, choking hazard-sized cap completely off the bottle, and she had hand gel running down her chin. I flipped. She smelled sweet like a cupcake, and there was a decent amount missing. I honestly couldn't recall visualizing how much was in the bottle recently. I guessed she'd ingested a teaspoon or more, so I called Poison Control. The man told me to observe her for drowsiness, slurred speech (she doesn't really speak...What does a slurred Mama sound like anyway?), clumsiness, or difficulty breathing. He told me to feed her a snack with some juice, and he'd call me back in an hour. Robbie checked online, and he found that she could become intoxicated from the alcohol in the product, but no additional harm would result. Terrible. Luckily, she seemed okay. When Robbie later changed her into her PJs, he found a light pink stain scented like cupcakes all over her tights. I felt better. The girls got a stern talk about putting their belongings where they belong in order to keep the little ones safe.

A bit later, I made tomorrow's lunches in the kitchen while Robbie watched football, and the kids played. Evelyn had been taking Vivian for rides around the house on the Lightning McQueen big wheel. Olivia does this too, and the baby really loves it. She pushes the buttons and makes all kinds of sounds fill the air. Well, when I went to the living room there was no Vivian. "Where's the baby?" I asked. Blank stares met me, and nobody knew. I took off down the hall, and I heard faint crying. She had crawled all the way into our master bedroom bathroom, and she'd closed herself inside in the dark. I scooped up my poor little baby, and she looked traumatized. Again, I felt terrible for her. I gave her extra snuggles when I nursed her at bedtime, and I hope tomorrow is a smooth day. Tomorrow is the last day she will ever be a true, baby baby. Tuesday I'll have a one-year-old. I'm very sad about it. I think I may understand how some youngest children end up spoiled. I want my baby to stay a baby.

Henry all of the sudden seems like such a big guy. He slept all night in undies all weekend without incident. He wore them to Children's Church and while we went places in the car. My dad said he'll be off to college next. Henry has been asking me to rock him before bed, and he nuzzles me and tells me how pretty I am. He's a wonderful guy. That's what he says about Vivian too. "Mommy, Vivian is a wonderful baby." My heart of course melts. Tonight I told him, "Jesus loves you," and before a split second passed he said, "and Santa too, Mom." I laughed. "What are you laughing about, Mom?" That too seems like such a big boy question.

The girls are in bed. We had a dance party during the Super Bowl Half Time Show. It was fun! I have always loved dancing with Robbie. That's how we spent our first evening together. We danced late into the night at a party in college, and that was the wonderful start of the life I have now.