Morjes!

Welcome to my blog. I write about fitting in, sticking out, and missing the motherland as a serial foreigner.

It finally happened

Today, for the first time, I had to call Poison Control.

Miriam came out of her room after "rest time" as soon as the clock said two. Ah, the joys of having a child old enough to read the time on a digital clock. She came up to me and I immediately smelled something sweet on her breath. I couldn't quite place it - I thought maybe she'd gotten into the extra refill packs of Pez I had stashed on a high shelf. Or perhaps there was a stray piece of candy on the floor or under her bed from whenever. It's the holidays; there's a lot of candy around.

I went into her room to investigate and found...an almost-empty bottle of infant ibuprofen, cherry flavor.

"Did you drink this???" I asked her frantically.

"Yes."

"How much?"

"Ummmm....five."

Realizing that that line of questioning wasn't going to get me anywhere, I went ahead and called Poison Control. I knew that infant ibuprofen couldn't do her much harm, especially since it was a small bottle, but better safe than sorry, right? The Poison Control lady told me the same thing, that Miriam would have had to drink four bottles of the stuff to even start to cause damage. The only side effect from the amount Miriam drank was that she "might be a little drowsy," according to Poison Control.

After a lecture on the non-eating of medicines (and self-chastisement for leaving them where she could reach them, though how she got through the child-proof cap, I'll never know), we went running. "A little drowsy" turned out to mean "asleep in five minutes flat."















The true test of sleepiness is whether a child will stay asleep in the transfer from car/stroller to house. Miriam passed with flying colors.














Almost two hours later, she's up and awake like normal. I'm glad our first experience with Poison Control was not too scary. Has anyone else gone this long without having to call that number? Or, like some of you I know (Shannan), is it on your speed-dial?

My Christmas gift to you

Book Review: Lone Survivor