Monster Baby Strikes Again

Oh Addy. My sweet little angel girl.

BAH HA H A HA HA HA!

Uh, yeah.

Wow Addy. You came into my life as a surprise, and you haven't stopped surprising me since. You are so lucky I love you as much as I do. And I do love you with all of my heart. I can't imagine my life without you. That being said.....

Just yesterday morning I was contemplating how much I could actually get done in a day if I didn't have to follow behind my little angel doing damage control. I think it would probably be a whole lot of a lot.

She can talk up a storm, this one. Our Home Teachers were over on Sunday and she would not stop talking to them the entire time they were here. I kept trying to get her to come sit by me and be quiet but she didn't even acknowledge my presence. At one point Emily said "Addy, if you can't sit down and be good we are going to have to tie you up with duct tape again". Then later she said, "Addy, I am going to have to put you in the playroom and lock the door". Ohhhh Emily. She is another one of my angels. OK, Steve did put tape around Addy's wrists once but he did it very lightly as a joke. Click here to watch the video. And for the record, we have no lock on the playroom door and I have never before locked my children in any room. I have locked them outside before, but that was when we were trying to sell our house and I was trying to clean it for a showing and the kids kept going in and out, in and out. Thanks for making us sound like child abusers Emily. But I digress...

The last 24 hours with Addy have been "especially" fun. I will work my way backward through the story. And I will leave out the more minor infractions for benefit of time.

THIS MORNING

Last night, Emily was working on a project for school which involved the use of black paint. I was not home when she was using it or I would have made sure it was put away, because I know how much trouble a three year old named Addison can get into with black paint. This morning, I was putting a load of laundry in the washing machine, after which I went to see where Addy was. She was at the desk with the black paint and it was all over her and her cute outfit and the desk. I cleaned her and the desk up, threw her clothes in the trash, and put her in time out. I didn't put the paint away at that time because we were on our way out the door to pick up my sister Lauren. And because I am stupid. I thought, I will get Lauren and come straight in and put the paint away, because remember I am smart enough that I would have put it away last night, had I been home. We picked up Lauren, came home, I went into my bedroom to put away my purse and keys and use the facilities. I then went straight in to put the paint away. But alas, I was too late. Once again, black paint everywhere. This time there wasn't so much on her clothes so they were able to be salvaged. I then promptly put the paint away. On the top shelf in the craft room. Where I hope it will be safe forever more.

LAST NIGHT

I was getting ready to go to a Relief Society dinner at the church. Steve was making dinner for the kids. Addy, unbeknownst to us, was painting her toenails (and 1/2 her feet on our bedroom floor. There was hot pink finger nail polish all over our beautiful concrete floor. See it really is beautiful:

So beautiful in fact, that Steve brings clients over all the time to gaze upon it's beauty. Hot pink puddles in the middle of it just won't do. Needless to say, Steve was pretty freaked out. And using fingernail polish remover on the floor was simply out of the question. So we got as much up as we could and then sweet Emily volunteered herself to sit for forever scrubbing with a toothbrush, until all traces of pink were gone. See, I told you Emily was an angel.

YESTERDAY MORNING

Yesterday morning. Yesterday morning, I was reminded just how much this little girl means to me. Yesterday morning, I was taking a shower and I thought she was tucked in safe on the couch watching Dora. "Just how stupid are you?" That is what you are thinking, I know it is. And the answer is: pretty darn stupid. I got out of the shower, got dressed and went out to check on her. I found her on the kitchen counter where she had climbed up to get into the top cabinet where I keep the medicine. Sitting next to her on the counter was an almost empty bottle of children's liquid Ibuprofen. An almost empty bottle. I just opened that bottle two days ago and I had given Aubrey two doses out of it. Next to the almost empty bottle was a small puddle that Addison had spilled. But it wasn't enough to make up a whole bottle's worth. I totally panicked. I asked her if she drank any. She said yes. I asked her how much. Her reply? "A lot". Thankfully Steve was home or I don't know what I would have done. I just knew we were going to have to take her to the hospital and have her stomach pumped. I asked Steve to clean her up and get her dressed. I immediately called Poison Control. For every bit as freaked out as I was, the girl on the other end of the line was cool, calm and collected. She must have talked to lots of freaked out moms before. She asked me how much Addison weighs. She had me measure out what was left in the bottle. She asked me how many doses I had given out of the bottle. She then assured me that Addison would be fine and there was no need to take her to the hospital.

SAY WHAT? Really? Apparently a three year old can pretty much down almost an entire bottle of Ibuprofen and be just perfectly fine. She said that with the doses already given from the bottle and what was left in it Addison would be fine. And with her spilling some, she could assure me that no harm was done and I could calm down and take a deep breath.

WHEW! Calm down is just what I did. I went up to her room where Steve was helping her get dressed. I held that sweet little angel tight in my arms and thanked my Heavenly Father that she was OK. I asked Steve to give her a Priesthood blessing. He tried to take her out of my arms to do it, but they would not let go. It was out of my control. My arms would not, could not release her. I told Steve he was just going to have to do it with her on my lap, which he did.

Oh Addy girl. I love you. Thank you for surprising me. From now on though, can we try to keep the surprises to a minimum?