The Princess and the Pot

Look who got caught with her hand in the flower pot!

This is my precious little niece, Allison. She's 13 months old. This was her second incident in less than twelve hours. The first incident found her standing in the toilet. Yep!

I don't know about you, but I just love her little velour princess outfit.

I remember finding my son, Caleb, a little older than Allison, swinging from the dining room chandelier. I remember finding him hanging from the outside of the upstairs banister. He was smiling. I had nightmares for weeks. I remember finding him drinking from a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I was standing right next to him. This was my first call to Poison Control. I remember him sucking on the nozzle of Round Up. Again, I was standing right next to him. This was my second call to Poison Control. This little boy could scale the kitchen cabinets in 2 seconds flat...and there were no handles. I have a photo of him standing upright on a 3 foot ball. Yes, standing on it. My son lived a constant adventure. As you can see, I lived to tell about it.

If you're thinking, "Well, hey! Don't you think you should have kept a closer eye on him?" If that crossed your mind then you have never had the privilege of being the mother of a child who only stops moving when they are asleep. Even then, their little feet are still moving as they dream about their next adventure.

I think my sister-in-love, who is the greatest mama in the world, is in for some wonderfully memorable adventures! I survived. And she will too.

Then God knew I needed a break and gave me sweet little Rachel. It was a good thing or else I might have ended up on a funny farm.



P.S. If you are still wondering about the rubbing alcohol incident, I had poured a little into the bottle cap to use on Rachel's newborn belly button (I guess you don't do that these days). Caleb reached up, grabbed the bottle, and started drinking it. Poison Control told me not to worry. If he became drowsy, he would sleep off his drunken stupor. Thankfully, it was a new bottle and I don't think he got much more than a sip. Ewww!

The Round Up story? Well, the big bottle of Round Up was sitting on a shelf about 5 feet off the ground. The long-hosed nozzle had fallen off the container and was hanging behind the shelf. Caleb found it there and just couldn't help himself. He started sucking on it. Did you know that Round Up is soap? Poison Control told me he'd be fine.