What a Day

Saturday morning started out like most mornings at the Rosier house. We were all in our bed, the babes were playing, and Wes and I were watching the morning news while eating breakfast. Then, the unthinkable happened. Gavin got up on all fours and lunged at Wes' bowl of hot oatmeal! After he stuck his hand in the oatmeal and quickly pulled it out, he began screaming bloody murder. I scooped him up and ran into the bathroom, where I put his hand under some cold water. He calmed down. I kept it there for 2-3 minutes. Then, I took him back into the bedroom. He started screaming again. Back to the cold water. After a few more minutes, I brought him back into the bedroom again. He SCREAMED! So, I got a cold wet washcloth and wrapped his hand in it. Sniffle, whimper, etc. At this point, his hand was red, but that was it. It looked like it hurt, but we didn't think it warranted a visit to the doctor.

Wes went to work and Gavin continued to whimper and whine for the next hour. I decided to call my mom to see if my sister (the chef who constantly burns herself) was there. My mom said that the last time she burned herself, my sister said to put a tomato on the burn to make it feel better. My mom did and it worked. I didn't have a tomato. So I asked, "Do you think some Preggo would do the trick?" "Sure, why not?" my mom replied. I put some spaghetti sauce in a bowl. Both babes were playing on the floor. I brought the bowl over to Gavin and placed his hand in it. BAD IDEA! He flipped his shit. So again, I ran him over to the sink to wash it off his hand. When I returned to the living room, Viv had put her hands AND FACE in the bowl. I quickly wiped her face and hands off (I didn't think that spaghetti sauce should be her fifth food). She got a lot of it on her clothes too, so those had to be changed. Mind you, Gavin is still screaming the entire time.

Then, a blister appeared. I teeny tiny little blister. So, I called the doctor. Well, it was Saturday, so I had to call the "advice nurse". This was the gist of our conversation:

• Me: "I have a 7 month old who stuck his hand in hot oatmeal. His hand is really red and he's been upset for a long time."
• AN (Advice Nurse): "Are there any blisters?"
• Me: "Well, yes, but it's REALLY small."
• AN: "Like a dime-size small?"
• Me: "Oh no, it's like 1/8th of a dime size small."
• AN: "Okay, just put some Neosporin on it and a band-aid."
• Me: "A band-aid on a 7 month old? Are you serious? He'll just eat it off."
• AN: "Okay, well put the Neosporin on it and then wrap his whole hand up. And, you can give him Tylenol for the pain."
• Me: "Okay, thanks."

I searched the house for some Neosporin with no luck. Then, I searched for the Tylenol because I knew we had some somewhere! Nope. No Tylenol. Damn. Meanwhile, Gavin is still fussing about his hand. I fed both babies, piled them into the car and drove to Walmart. Gavin fell asleep in the car- thank you! At Walmart, I picked up little tiny band-aids, Neosporin, baby Tylenol, gauze, and tape. Oh yeah, I also bought Gav and Viv a new toy- which distracted him from his arm for a while.

When we got in the house, I decided to first give Gav some Tylenol. Poor guy had woken up and was still upset. Then, I made numerous attempts to put Neosporin on his blister and cover it.

• Attempt #1: Neosporin and an Elmo band-aid. Two seconds later, Gavin pulled it off.
• Attempt #2: Neosporin and 2 Elmo band-aids. About one minute later, Gavin sucked them off.
• Attempt #3: Neosporin, 2 band-aids, gauze, and tape down to his wrist. He was intrigued at first. Then I tried to distract him. But about 20 minutes after it was first put on, Gavin was unwrapping all of the gauze and eating the tape.
• Attempt #4: Neosporin, 2 band-aids, gauze, and tape down to the middle of his fore arm. This time, it worked. Probably because I used almost an entire roll of tape. This puppy was not coming off. He tried to suck his thumb, couldn't, and just dealt with it. All was good in the world again.

Then I showed him the new toy. Love at first sight. He scooted up to it and pushed all of the buttons, looked at the lights, smiled, and listened to the music (which, by the way, I have had stuck in my head for two days). Through out the rest of the day, I caught Gavin sucking on his tape-covered stub of a hand. I'm not exactly sure why he wanted to eat it so bad, but he did. That night, when Wes got home, it was time to change the bandage. WOAH! The blister was a lot bigger! And, there were TWO now! One on his first finger and one on his thumb. It was gross. We gave him some Tylenol, let him watch the TV (merely as a distraction tactic), and wrapped it up again. Poor guy. He ate his dinner and fell asleep.

What a day.