Toddler Survival

Someone put my mind at ease.....please! Lately, I feel like I'm spending more time trying to survive the toddler phase than I am preparing for the little one's arrival. And at the same time, I'm trying to help my toddler survive this phase.

Initially, I was really concerned about moving my 20 month old from her crib to her "big girl bed" in her new big girl room. We used the Natura no-VOC paint, we blocked all the outlets, we locked the closet and put away all the toys, we have child-proof locks on the doors. I bought a nightlight that she can keep in bed with her, so there's nothing to unplug and no shocking hazard. But I still worried that we'd hear some loud crash in the middle of the night and find something we'd forgotten to protect her from....

But instead, on the first night we're moving her into the new room, while we're doing a final check, she wanders into one of the bathrooms, opens a drawer and finds electric clipper oil. On her way to show us her treasure, she removed the top, put the bottle in her mouth and had it all over her hands and mouth by the time she finds us for "show and tell." This tiny bottle offered little information, EXCEPT, "can be fatal if swallowed, seek emergency treatment immediately.

So at 34 weeks pregnant, I put my little girl in the tub, fully clothed, and start washing out her mouth with a bottle of water while my husband changes clothes, finds his wallet and grabs the car keys. And on the 4th of July holiday as fireworks are going off throughout the area, we race to the ER with our hazard lights on. While we're waiting for the triage nurse I dial Poison Control, only to find out the first six numbers I called were incorrect.

As I finally get through to Poison Control the triage nurse calls us back and her second questions is "did you call poison control?" After I answer yes, she explains because that's what we're going to do is call them and ask how to treat the patient. Seriously? I wish we'd known that before taking her to the ER with all of the other germs, etc.

We were very fortunate that she didn't get any of the chemicals in her lungs and so no damage was done. And after returning home, giving her a long bath, she spent the first night in her big girl bed in her new room without any problems.

Now we move to today, just four days after our last scare. I'm in the bedroom trying to catch a nap, when I hear a scream from MC, followed by my husband barging into the bedroom, yelling "I need help." What now?

He carries out little girl into our bathroom and I see he has blood all over his shirt and she has blood running down her face. First thought, let me get dressed we're going back to the ER. Fortunately, that was not the case. Apparently, MC was in the den wearing her Dad's cowboy boots while trying to walk, she fell and bumped her mouth on our coffee table and cut herself below her lip.

Again we got lucky, because the bleeding stopped pretty quickly and she cried for less than five minutes. I went to my FB friends for advice and we saved ourselves from a trip to the ER.



But then this evening, while I was fixing dinner, MC came running into the kitchen and fell onto our tile floor. She got back up immediately and after a hug was fine. I wish I could bounce back that quickly, it seems like every time I watch her get hurt I feel like my heart stops.

What's the secret here? How do I survive my toddler and how does she survive herself?