Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Baby Nuthouse: Emergency!

Certain members of our household seem to have trouble determining exactly what qualifies as an "emergency." For instance, my 4-year-old will rush into the room and say, "Mom! It's an emergency! I need you to build me a train track!"

Lucky for us he does not know how to use a telephone yet so we haven't had any "emergency" calls asking the 911 operator to pour him a glass of milk.

He's not the only one whose judgment is questionable, though. The other day the kids were all downstairs. I was upstairs in the bathroom. (I always seem to be sitting on the toilet when disaster strikes.)

"Mom!" shouted my 5-year-old. "A terrible thing has happened!"

Trying to hurry, I yelled back: "What happened?"

"Something horrible happened!" he responded.

Images were flashing across my mind. Something terrible has happened, yet no one is crying. Is one of the kids unconscious? Then I heard my daughter chattering away, climbing the stairs. She was obviously not involved in the tragic event.

"What is it?" I shouted. "Did something happen to your brother?"

"Yes!"

"Well, what happened to him?"

"His foot is stuck in the, um...ummmm......"

"In the what?"

"In the doll baby stroller!"

I start breathing again. "Can't you get it out?" I shout.

"No!.............wait..............Oh, never mind, we got it out."

Crisis averted.

1 comment:

Meaghan said...

It is a fear of precisely this type of poor judgement that keeps me from:

1) teaching my daughter the word "emergency."

2) teaching my daughter how to use the phone.

3) going to the bathroom with the door closed completely.