Update of Sorts

Apparently, I don't recall what it is like having a 4 year old boy around the house. Okay, Ethan is a very special little boy, which sometimes means he is a bit more of a challenge than your typical 4 year old. But still.

I was up bright and early yesterday morning. I went with Christina to Children's Hospital. Ethan was having the nerves in his ears checked for hearing loss. He had to be sedated. Any procedure that has to be done at Children's seems like a huge ordeal, especially when the arrival time is 7:00a.m. I figured it'd be a 15 minute thing once he was out. But no, it was nearly 2 full hours of waiting. We found out that Ethan has pretty good hearing in his left ear, a bit of hearing loss in his right. Nothing that would cause his lack of speech. On one hand it is good news. But the other hand is left to wring itself out. I forgot how much emotional energy it takes to trust a child in the doctor's hands.

Today it was my privilege to take care of Ethan while Christina ran some errands. One small boy, sounds like a piece of cake. That is when my shortcoming kicked into gear. I forget I am getting older.

A not-very-well-liked dog woke Ethan up with her barking. I couldn't get him to eat anything for breakfast, despite my most equisite cuisine offerings. Two hours later I made him lunch. He did eat a few bites, but mostly because his grandpa was eating the same thing. I forget how picky kids can be.

I gave him a bath. While bathing, I gave him a quick haircut producing a horrendous mess in the bathroom. During my attempt to clean it up, he poured powder on his feet. (And all over the carpet.) I forget how wiggly boys are.

Then the bad Gramma remembered she'd forgotten to give Ethan his anti-seizure medication. She quickly mixed it into his leftover yogurt/oatmeal and tried to spoon it into his mouth. I have no idea how much of it went down. He swished it around until he no doubt tasted the bitterness, then proceeded to spit it down the front of his clean shirt. I'd forgotten how messy boys can be.

We played Power Rangers. We put his puppy outside, while we stayed in. I looked around the house. I decided to wait to bake cookies together. If I could just run the vaccuum and pick up some of that dog hair, then maybe we could do something fun. Ethan was playing with his new castle and watching Sesame Street, so I quickly got out the vaccuum and headed for the bathroom, then the bedrooms. Did I forget how fast he is?

I vacuumed for 5-6 minutes. I walked back to the kitchen. The refrigerator door was wide open, a carton of eggs atop the table. My instincts told me to find the kid. Looking up, I see what looks like raw egg whites coming out of his mouth. Pausing a split second to close the refrigerator door, I see an empty prescription bottle on the floor. The contents are spilled. I break into a full run to reach Ethan. It isn't egg white running from his mouth, but saliva. He is trying to remove the bitter taste from his tongue. It's been a long time since I've had to call poison control. I'd forgotten the number.

After counting pills I realized he probably only bit into one of them. The man on the phone assured me that he might get a headache, but nothing worse. Relieved I hung up the phone. I spent the next 20 minutes trying without success to get Ethan to eat or drink something so he'd quit gagging. Juice, chocolate milk,ice cream, pretzels...I'd forgotten how difficult it can be to coax a child to eat.

He had a seizure, and I felt sure it was my fault. I didn't know grandparents felt guilt the way a parent sometimes does.

His mom came home, and boy did I feel relieved. I could be just "gramma" and not the responsible adult. I'd almost forgotten how nice and fun it is to be a grandma.

The phone rang. Practice was cancelled. Hilary needed to be picked up from school. Did I mention it was snowing and we had about 6 inches already? I had not forgotten how icy the roads can be, nor how cold it no doubt was. I was taking a coat & the 4 wheel drive.

On my way out the door, I saw my refrigerator standing open again. To the right stood Ethan. He was holding an emtpy bottle of coffee creamer. He was covered in white liquid and the carpet beneath him was soaking it up too. The rest of the evening I enjoyed the delicious vanilla scent.

Imagine the joy when I finally saw this:



I'd forgotten the sweetness of a sleeping child.