This week has been an interesting week. I took time off to devote to a project for our Respect For Life committee that I'm a co-chair on at work. Two days this week there's either been a 2-hour delay or a cancellation of school when I was supposed to be "selling" tickets. On Monday, I fought with my son to get him going and get him out the door and found myself in the car, frustrated, with peanut butter somehow on my elbow because I had brought his breakfast into the car in an effort to get moving faster.
In my younger days, I probably would have totally lost my cool and let the frustration and anger take over the rest of the day. I'm slowly metamorphising into a more patient person- possibly. I realized how being late isn't the worst thing in the whole world and it was kind of funny I had peanut butter on my elbow and gratetful for my warm coat that though it was going to smell like peanut butter the rest of the day- that's not the worst thing I could smell like (I don't need to tell you about the substances I get at the vet clinic).
I don't know if it's time, perspective, wisdom or maybe the simple fact that when I see my son have a temper I'm reminded he didn't just pick that up on his own, it is a "learned" behavior that has slowly improved me. I'm still a work in progress and just today found myself bordering on a meltdown and having to walk myself back from the ledge.
It started with thinking that maybe today was going to be another snow day, and wanting to get up and exercise, but making excuses not to do it. That's not really a great way to start the day. Then it became finding out I was turning into my mom when I tried to wake my four year old up with a song and smiles. He gave me the same response I used to give my mom.
I gave my son a chocolate chip muffin I had made and let him sit in the rocking chair and "ease" into the morning. As I got a whole slew of baked goods and coffee to take to school to use for "marketing" for people to find out our event, somehow I realized that the whole muffin, complete with silicone wrapper was gone. I was in shock. I asked my son, "Did Dewey steal the muffin, did he eat the blue wrapper too?" I'm not sure how awake or aware he was, but I got the message from him that was what happened. I freaked out. I wasn't worried about the chocolate chips, but I was worried that the silicone wrapper would get stuck in his intestines. Dewey knew he was in trouble and was at my feet clinging to me. I hurried around the house to try to find hydrogen peroxide. My husband was getting ready for work and "reminding" me nothing can be left unattended for the dog. I told him in his almost ten years of life he had not eaten plastic or inedible stuff like that. I just couldn't believe it. There wasn't really time for the argument anyway. I found the hydrogen peroxide and told my husband to just help me hold him so I could shove it down his throat. If I was a client, I would have measured it out and done exactly as a veterinarian told me (which is what you should do if you are in this situation). I shoved the hydrogen peroxide down in his throat and took him in the backyard so he would vomit up the wrapper back there. I also tried to load up the kid and the car, knowing I was really late. I would drop off the baked goods and coffee and come back to the house and if he still hadn't vomited it up, I would take him to the emergency room. My son was slowly waking up in this process as I came in and out of the house I went in the backyard to check on the progress. No silicone cup. Everything else but no silicone cup. As I was about to reach my breaking point- there on the table to come outside was the muffin with the blue wrapper.
I felt pretty awful. Poor Dewey. I just made him sick because I assumed he had been bad when one of us (my son or me) had moved the muffin and forgot about it. I let Dewey come inside and decided I would clean up the mess when we got back. Dewey didn't deserve to be in the cold backyard (and I didn't want him to eat anything else that would cause problems). I made sure I gave him a second breakfast when we got back and the good thing about dogs is- they forgive you pretty easily. I don't think he will remember that I intentionally made him sick because he was falsely accused. If only we could give each other the same grace that dogs give us...
The women at the church were understanding. They said they probably wouldn't have thought anything of it if their dog ate plastic or silicone- I told them, "I know too much about what can happen." They laughed when I said, "God has a sense of humor and sometimes I just have to remember to laugh with Him."
I'm in fairly good spirits because cleaning up the mess isn't too hard. We got a Bissell Spot Bot for our wedding and it's been one of the best gifts we could have gotten. It's probably made our marriage stronger. You basically just put it on top of the mess and it cleans it up. It is definitely awesome.
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