adventures in parenting

My sister came down to visit us yesterday--hooray for cousins! We had a fun visit (more on that later), but that's not the particular adventure I had in mind.

Here's what happened. I was peeling some yams for dinner, thinking the kind of disjointed thoughts I imagine most of us do when we're prepping for dinner. Evelyn and Andrew were playing in the next room. All of a sudden, my concentration was shattered by a blood-curdling scream, only this scream didn't stop. It preceded Andrew into the kitchen, where, bouncing up and down in pain and wailing, he handed me the spray-on sunscreen (which he had, apparently, just sprayed in his face. In his right eye, to be more accurate).

I think I panicked just a little--I knew I was supposed to flush his eye out, but I couldn't think what to use (we don't have any eyedroppers). Finally, I settled on a washrag, which I used to drizzle water over his face. But he kept screaming, he wouldn't open his eye, and he kept telling me I was making things worse. Wondering if I was, in fact, making things worse, I called the pediatrician's office, who suggested I call poison control. Ominous words--but it turned out to be a good thing. The woman I spoke with gave me a good suggestion: put Andrew in the bathtub, and pour water down his entire face--enough of the water should get in his eye to flush it out. Poor Andrew. He cried during the entire process (I admit: I wanted to cry too), but toward the end, he finally seemed to understand what I was trying to do and he kept pulling at his eyelid to try and keep his eye open. I tried to tell him that he was being very brave, and the funny boy just gulped and asked, "Is this brave? Do I sound very brave to you?" (In his mind, apparently, one cannot be brave and cry at the same time; his gulping denial probably touched me more than anything else).

Andrew seemed much better when we finally finished--I sent him off to bed with tired eyes, but no undue redness, and, thankfully, no more pain. Still, not an experience I want to repeat any time soon!