Emergency vs. Non-emergency
As a parent, you try to teach your kids the difference between life and death situations. Times when they definitely need your attention versus times when they probably could have waited until you, say, I don't know, were dressed. Our kids lately have been into telling me everything that the other person has done. Whether it's an emergency or not. In case you are confused because for some reason you do not spend time around little children, allow me to clarify.
Non-emergency: I am in the shower. I can hear a frantic pounding on my door. I yell out over the sound of the bathroom heater (What? I like to be warm when I get out of the shower) and the water running, "If it's an emergency, open the door and tell me what's going on!" Then I hear the door open and a frantic, "Mom? MOM! WE'RE OUT OF MILK!"
Non-emergency: I am folding laundry in my room. Soon I hear voices. They get louder and louder. Then? Silence. Next comes the pounding of bare feet as they make their way across the hardwood floor to my bedroom in the back of the house from the living room in the front of the house. It's Corrine. "Mom. Hunter just changed the channel and now the parental controls locked us out of Animal Planet again. You need to come and enter your password before the documentary on man eating ants gets over!"
Non-emergency: Sometimes, I let the kids walk to the library for fun. They will check out DVDs and sometimes even books. Once in a while they get online to play games or to check their emails, which by the way have become the "notes" of today for those kids who don't have cells phones to text with. I remember passing notes back and forth in class. It was awesome! The thrill of sneaking it past the teacher, the anticipation of opening it up to see what your friend had written, the fun of folding it into different shapes. Ahh, those were the days. I digress. Their email. I sit down to check my own email, and I see this as a topic pop up in my inbox: "EMERGENCY. AT THE LIE BARY. FROM CORRINE" I'm thinking that one of them has done something illegal and they have been asked to contact their mother and they weren't allowed to use the phone because it was being used to dial 911.
This was the text in the body of the email:
"Hunter called me a dummy.
From Corrine at the library."
Now. The following situations will be given as a pop quiz. That's right. You get to be the judge this time.
Situation #1:
I had taken the kids to the park one day and as is true with little ones anytime you go out in public, the littlest one said she had to go potty. I managed to locate the park restroom and we ventured in. Now, had this been a park where we were the only attendees, I may have given her the go ahead to just use a bush because we all know how sanitary park restrooms are. (You should ask me about the time at Hunter's birthday party a few weeks ago when Laynee had to go potty and we were at the park with all the party guests and she bared her bum and squatted. Right there at the park. At least she had the common sense to go behind a tree.) But there were others present on this outing, so as to minimize my child's exposure to the average park goer, I hustled her into the stall. I carefully placed toilet paper squares on every inch of the toilet seat and then gently sat Layna down to do her business. She finished up and hopped down while I used my shoe to brush the makeshift toilet seat covers into the water below. After flushing, I turned just in time to see her pick up some already chewed gum off the lid of the in-stall, on-the-wall garbage can and plop it in her mouth.
"NOOOOO!" It all came out slow motion-like and before I could reach in and scoop it out of her mouth, she swallowed it.
*dry heave*
Oh, but here's the best part: When I lectured her on why it is not OK to pick up anything and put it in your mouth, she said to me, "But it was mine that I put there to keep safe so it wouldn't fall into my pee in the toilet."
Well, then. That's a totally different story.
Emergency or no?
Situation #2:
The other day, The Bug and I were cuddling on the couch reading a book and her little elbows were jabbing me in the gut. I thought she was just being wiggly until I noticed a sort of rhythm to her jabbing. When I asked her what she was doing, she goes, "Mom? Your tummy got really big today. Do you have a baby in there? Do you need to poop it out?"
Some of you may not classify this as an emergency, but me? I am taking it as a bona-fide 911 call. Guess I need to get my heiny in gear and stop drinking all those yummy warm drinks with heavy whipping cream.
Tomorrow sounds like a good day to start.
Non-emergency: I am in the shower. I can hear a frantic pounding on my door. I yell out over the sound of the bathroom heater (What? I like to be warm when I get out of the shower) and the water running, "If it's an emergency, open the door and tell me what's going on!" Then I hear the door open and a frantic, "Mom? MOM! WE'RE OUT OF MILK!"
Non-emergency: I am folding laundry in my room. Soon I hear voices. They get louder and louder. Then? Silence. Next comes the pounding of bare feet as they make their way across the hardwood floor to my bedroom in the back of the house from the living room in the front of the house. It's Corrine. "Mom. Hunter just changed the channel and now the parental controls locked us out of Animal Planet again. You need to come and enter your password before the documentary on man eating ants gets over!"
Non-emergency: Sometimes, I let the kids walk to the library for fun. They will check out DVDs and sometimes even books. Once in a while they get online to play games or to check their emails, which by the way have become the "notes" of today for those kids who don't have cells phones to text with. I remember passing notes back and forth in class. It was awesome! The thrill of sneaking it past the teacher, the anticipation of opening it up to see what your friend had written, the fun of folding it into different shapes. Ahh, those were the days. I digress. Their email. I sit down to check my own email, and I see this as a topic pop up in my inbox: "EMERGENCY. AT THE LIE BARY. FROM CORRINE" I'm thinking that one of them has done something illegal and they have been asked to contact their mother and they weren't allowed to use the phone because it was being used to dial 911.
This was the text in the body of the email:
"Hunter called me a dummy.
From Corrine at the library."
Now. The following situations will be given as a pop quiz. That's right. You get to be the judge this time.
Situation #1:
I had taken the kids to the park one day and as is true with little ones anytime you go out in public, the littlest one said she had to go potty. I managed to locate the park restroom and we ventured in. Now, had this been a park where we were the only attendees, I may have given her the go ahead to just use a bush because we all know how sanitary park restrooms are. (You should ask me about the time at Hunter's birthday party a few weeks ago when Laynee had to go potty and we were at the park with all the party guests and she bared her bum and squatted. Right there at the park. At least she had the common sense to go behind a tree.) But there were others present on this outing, so as to minimize my child's exposure to the average park goer, I hustled her into the stall. I carefully placed toilet paper squares on every inch of the toilet seat and then gently sat Layna down to do her business. She finished up and hopped down while I used my shoe to brush the makeshift toilet seat covers into the water below. After flushing, I turned just in time to see her pick up some already chewed gum off the lid of the in-stall, on-the-wall garbage can and plop it in her mouth.
"NOOOOO!" It all came out slow motion-like and before I could reach in and scoop it out of her mouth, she swallowed it.
*dry heave*
Oh, but here's the best part: When I lectured her on why it is not OK to pick up anything and put it in your mouth, she said to me, "But it was mine that I put there to keep safe so it wouldn't fall into my pee in the toilet."
Well, then. That's a totally different story.
Emergency or no?
Situation #2:
The other day, The Bug and I were cuddling on the couch reading a book and her little elbows were jabbing me in the gut. I thought she was just being wiggly until I noticed a sort of rhythm to her jabbing. When I asked her what she was doing, she goes, "Mom? Your tummy got really big today. Do you have a baby in there? Do you need to poop it out?"
Some of you may not classify this as an emergency, but me? I am taking it as a bona-fide 911 call. Guess I need to get my heiny in gear and stop drinking all those yummy warm drinks with heavy whipping cream.
Tomorrow sounds like a good day to start.
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