Not panicking

It was an insanely busy weekend with Girl Scout recruitment events and Girl Scout meeting planning and Mary's first Girl Scout meeting. And then trying to get the housework done and trying to get to the store and trying to get something decent on the table both nights. And the horrible, horrible sinus pressure I woke up to Saturday night which reminded me that perhaps I should get some new filters for the humidifiers so that maybe I don't feel as if my face will explode every time I clench my teeth.

By Sunday night I was a fatigued mess. It's been a while since I felt THAT tired.

And then Sunday night....

Anytime Izzy finds a penny or quarter or something, she wants to put it her piggy bank. I keep the bank on a shelf in her closet--she has to ask me for it every time. No big deal. But this weekend, she seemed to find quite a handful of pennies. Sunday I took the bank down for her, and she wanted to KEEP it off the shelf. Well...OK. Whatever.

Sunday evening she and Mary are cleaning their room (OK, Mary is rearranging the stuffed animals on their beds and Izzy is just wandering around the room and not much "cleaning" is really going on). Izzy finds another penny and excitedly shows it to me, and proudly tells me she's going to put it in her bank, and even takes the bank and walks around with it and the penny and then says, "I'm going to show Daddy!" Daddy INSISTS that he did, in fact, SEE her put the penny in her bank.

Meanwhile, I'm in bedroom putting clothes away (where, except for the random pile of clothes here and there, not much cleaning ever gets done, either). Suddenly, I hear Izzy SCREAMING in her bedroom. And it's a definite "my brother or SOMETHING freaked me out and I'm SCARED" scream. She comes running into my room all frantic yelling, "I SWALLOWED A PENNY! AUUUUUUUUGH!"

I take a look at my screaming, crying, and obviously BREATHING kid (Oh. Em. GEE!), take a cleansing breath and tell her, "Well, kid, we're just going to have to wait for it to come out the other end."

I did have the random thought of taking Izzy to the 24-hr care place, but she was just OBVIOUSLY fine, so I decided to spare the insurance company and myself the cost of the x-rays which would show Abe on his way to her intestines and the obvious wait-for-nature-to-take-its-course advice I would get from the docs. I had her drink a cup of water. Asked her to please stop trying to COUGH up Abe, as he wasn't coming out THAT way anymore, and briefly wondered if I should mention it to her teachers in case SHE said something to THEM first...? John: "naaaah." Okey dokey, then!

Where on EARTH did she find YET another penny? Where is this treasure trove she has uncovered? Where on EARTH did she get the idea to put that disgusting thing in her MOUTH?

God. I'm so glad it wasn't anything worse!