Only a minute....

Only a minute...I found out yesterday--again--that a minute can change many lives forever! My daughter-in-law told me when I first began caring for my grandson, right after his birth two years ago, that she never had to worry, because I am such a careful person. Generally, I'm considered by everyone in my family too careful to the point of annoying. Yesterday I relaxed my standard a little, and it could have cost my grandson his life, and I didn't even see it coming! Long story short, we were on the way out the door when I decided to make a trip to the bathroom. Conner was happily playing with his cars at the coffee table, and my son Nathan was due to come home from work at any moment, so I shut the bathrooom door. I usually leave it open.

During Conner's nap yesterday I had been cleaning out our laundry room while visiting with son Don who came over on his way home from work. He got his fishing rods out of the laundry room, and I moved some things around on some shelves as I did the laundry, while we talked. Well, I must have uncovered some automotive lube, fuel injector cleaner that Don said he hadn't used in years. It must have been deep inside a low shelf that I couldn't see, but in just a few moments, Conner had gone in the laundry room, opened the bottle and poured it all over the coffee table and his clothes. I was washing my hands when I realized he had gotten very quiet, so I opened the door and saw the coffee table and the bottle and caught the noxious odor that was everywhere. Conner was quietly waiting next to his diaper bag right in the entryway. "Hi, Eee-Eee, Hi!" was what he said to me. I started taking off his clothes, and checking his mouth while I yelled out the door for my neighbor Lisa to come help me. Lisa and I washed him off, but the smell was so strong that we couldn't tell if his mouth smelled like the oil or not. I thought about calling 911 but called poison control instead. while Lisa scrubbed Conner off. They didn't think I needed to take him to the ER if he wasn't coughing but said he had to be watched for 6 hours for signs of respiratory distress. I also called Chris, because my thought was to take him to the ER anyway. Chris looked up petrolium distolates on the internet and agreed with the poison control, so I brought Conner home. Conner was very cooperative. Everytime I told him to stick his tongue out and I put my nose right in his mouth, he just did what I said. Once he was scrubbed off and outside, I couldn't smell the odor when I checked his mouth. I also had him suck on his paci and smelled that--thank goodness we haven't taken that completely away yet. (Lisa said this would be the day that Conner is convinced that Eee-Eee has completely lost her mind!) (true that!) :) And by the way....thank God for friends like Lisa, who came running when I called out the door to her...and for Tim Schwamb who prayed with me on the spot when I got to the church building last night! I don't think I would have been able to put together a cohesive thought last night in ESL otherwise! And thankfully Cam still brought me her precious little boy this morning! She wasn't worried about a reocurrance and even shared a funny story concerning his other grandma and a carton of ice cream.
Conner never did show any signs of distress....except by how weird everything was before he went home. As Lisa was saying goodbye, Conner grabbed her hand and said, "Want a walk, Nina!" (His special name for Lisa...) I think what he didn't say was, "Save me from Eee-Eeee....she keeps smelling my mouth!) Where, you ask, is Conner right now as I type my blog? Strapped in his high chair, eating breakfast and watching Sid, the Science Kid....maybe they will talk about the dangers of petrolium distolates. By the way, they are in many household products, which are no longer visable in my house.