Connor’s at it again!

Well he’s done it again… Connor is going to make me grey… well… more grey than I am already.

Before I tell you about today’s escapades, let me tell you the story I was telling my brother on Christmas Eve.

A few weeks ago, my mom went away on holiday (she normally looks after the kids in the afternoons), and I left work early one afternoon to look after the kids.  I was upstairs answering work emails, when I hear Connor having a tantrum downstairs.  So, I trundle off down the stairs to investigate, to find Connor on top of a chair that he’d pushed in front of the TV.  He was jumping on it, trying to reach a bottle of Bovril (similar to Marmite) that was on top of the TV cabinet.

So I ask Bradley “Why’s the Bovril there?”  And just then, Connor turns around and I see exactly why it’s there.  Connor had smeared his whole body (he was only wearing a nappy (diaper) because it was so hot) with Bovril… and the floor, and the persian rug, and the one chair!!  He’d obviously used the stool in the kitchen to climb up and reach the Bovril jar that I’d left on the kitchen counter.  And I couldn’t even praise Bradley for taking it away from him… because Bradley had a huge smear of the stuff around his mouth too!!  For Pete sake… Connor’s not even supposed to be able to open jars yet!!

And it doesn’t end there either… about an hour later, Bradley and I were upstairs typing a letter to Father Christmas when I realised how quiet Connor was.  We’d been upstairs for about 10 minutes by the time I asked Bradley if he knew where his brother was because he was so quiet.  And do you have any idea what Bradley’s reply was (in a very calm voice)?

“He’s on the coffee table… sucking on poison”

Well I literally flew downstairs to find Connor sitting on top of the coffee table… with a cloth and the open bottle of Handi Andi (cleaning detergent) next to him!! I don’t actually think he’d had any because I couldn’t smell any of it on him, and he seemed fine.  Needless to say all the cleaning aids were moved to a VERY high cupboard that day!

We were laughing about it and saying that we’ve been very lucky that he hasn’t done major damage to himself yet…  and then today happened…  today’s incident was more scary than the other incidents…

I was checking emails and twittering this afternoon upstairs.  Lance was downstairs.  Bradley was playing in the same room, and I thought Connor was too.  Next thing I know he’s standing next to me and hugging me.  And he smelt funny.  Bradley said that Connor smelled like soap. I asked Connor what he’d done, to which he replied “No”…. it’s not like I expected an answer anyway!  So I went to investigate… by following the smell.

To my horror, I found a bottle of Tea Tree Oil Shampoo next to our bed (we’d bought it to try out when Bradley had all those skin problems)… some of it was on the table… and the bottle was empty.  I have no idea how full the bottle had been.

I went to find Connor and asked him if he’d drunk the bottle.  Nodding of his head was his reply.  Oh crap!!  I tried to google drinking shampoo and the side-effects… but couldn’t find anything.  Tried to find the phone number for the Poison Info line… which I did… only to discover that it had been discontinued… WTF!!!  Then I phoned my brother.  Thank God he answered the phone.  He’s a paramedic so I knew he’d be able to help me.

He got hold of a doctor eventually who said that Tea Tree oil is water based and not chemical based, so he should be fine.  We just have to watch for severe tummy cramps and/or vomitting.  If he has either one of the symptoms we are to rush him to ER.  HECTIC!!

Thank God for my brother!! I was about to start panicking!

Thankfully Connor seems OK. We’ve given him lots of milk to drink in the hopes of diluting the gumph in his tummy, and he’s now sleeping.  So far so good.

He’s HECTIC some days, this beautiful child of mine.

And if you’re wondering about the scratch on his cheek in the photo?  That happened today too.  He was chasing Bradley this morning while he was blowing on his new trumpet.  Then the inevitable happened… he tripped and the trumpet scraped against his cheek and he bit the inside of his cheek causing bleeding in his mouth. He was DAMN lucky that the pipe didn’t ram down his throat actually!