So how was your weekend?

Nothing kicks off the weekend like getting to call the poison control hot line first thing Saturday morning. Just another one of life's little adventures with kids. Growing up, some close family friends practically had that number on speed dial as their daughter regularly consumed non-edibles, even well into her grade school years. So I felt a little a little silly as I tried to clear my head from fatigue to think about where I might find that number. After all, I've been doing this mom thing for about two years now, I'm fairly well educated, I'm trained in CPR and First Aid, and am a social worker by profession, who dedicates time and energy to ensuring the safety and future of other people's children.

It started after a fairly sleepless night. It seemed like I had just put baby Sani down and was drifting off to sleep again myself when Cadence woke up around 5 AM. Normally she doesn't get up until 7, sometimes 8. Needless to say, I was not prepared to be up and entertaining an energetic toddler. I told her it was still time to sleep and asked her to lay down in her room. She went back to her room where I could hear her playing. I did my best to supervise her from my pillows, but eventually succumbed to the inevitable, and drifted off to sleep. I woke up when my mommy senses started tingling....Cadence was standing by the bed, and I could smell a distinct sweet, fruity scent. My eyes popped open to see my daughter standing with a big grin and an empty bottle of medicine clutched in her hand.

While I can fully appreciate why pharmaceutical companies concoct delectable syrupy medications for kids, I'm beginning to think Mary Poppins might have been onto something when she said "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down". I think I might prefer adding the sweet myself rather than my daughter actually being excited each time she needs her medicine.

So in a single bound I lept out of the bed and snatched the now empty vial from Cadence. I asked her the obvious, "Did you drink this?", to which she replied "Yeeess!" and happily scampered off. Since I could see no visable effects of the medication on my child, I did my best to calm my racing heart, collect my thoughts and form my game plan. First: read the warnings on the label...perhaps this will tell me what to do. Second: If the label does not provide adequate instruction, wake up Eric.

I was in luck! Sort of. The label stated "in case of overdose, call an emergency line or poison control center". Hmm...would've been nice if they thought to include that number along with the warning. Ok, so the bottle, though nearly full when found by my daughter, was actually only half an once in size, so I figured that was in Cadence's favor. Secondly, the medication happened to be gas drops for the baby, which you can give up to 12 times a day...so it seemed this was also in Cadence's favor. Thirdly, Cadence was busy singing to herself and playing....still no signs of harm...also in her favor. This was clearly not an emergency, so where could I find the number to poison control?

Instantly my mind flashed to my last first aid class, then to the backseat of my car where I left first aid handouts and poison control information for weeks, if not months, then finally to the trash can where I eventually deposited said materials. Dang!

To make a long story a little shorter, I did find the number in the phone book, talked briefly to a gentlemen that sounded about as excited as I did when Cadence woke up at 5, to be taking my call. He confirmed Cadence would be just fine, took a small amount of my personal information for their records, and thus I began my weekend. Eric was kind enough to buy more gas drops later that morning, in fact a double package...just in case and Cadence was pretty flatulence free for the rest of the day.