I’m still a bit shaken up by the whole thing, but here it goes:

WunderWife went to go pick the two boys up from school. This usually takes 30 minutes or so. I was home working and she asked if WunderKid3 (3 1/2 year old girl) could stay with me.

Sure. We do this all the time. I put a movie on in the den and can manage to get a little bit of work done. WunderKid3 will come in from time to time to sit in my lap or ask me what I’m doing or when Mommy is coming home. Sometimes she’ll play in her room which is across the hall and sometimes she’ll want to play on the laptop. Today, she just wanted to watch the movie.

I went back to my office and did a little bit of work. As is my custom when watching her, I get up every 5 minutes or so to check on her. This time went a little longer until I heard her in the kitchen and so I figured I better go check on her.

When I rounded the corner, this is what I saw (re-created for informational purposes only):

Ever since she has been able to walk, she has used the laundry basket as a stool to reach things. There would be times when I would see her run down the hallway with the basket and have to run after her because she was up to something.

So I knew immediately that she had been on the counter. When I got up to the counter I noticed the bottle.

It was a bottle of children’s chewable vitamins…and the top was off…

My heart sank.

I ran into the den and she was sitting there watching her movie. I asked her if she had eaten any vitamins. She nodded. I asked her how many and she told me four…but this was from a 3 year old….

My mind started racing. She only took 4…that’s not so bad…what do I do? What if she took more? Do I call the doctor?

Yes I started to panic a bit, so I called WunderWife. She told me to call Poison Control.

Yeah, that’s it, you’re suppose to call Poison Control. Now where have I seen that number? Oh yeah, in the front of the phone book…Let’s see…Poison control…Ah here it is…

I dialed the number and it rang…and rang…and rang. It finally switched to a busy signal. So I called again. Same thing. I called 4 more times. No dice. Then I called the Atlanta Metro number…same thing.

Just then WunderWife came in and she called our pediatrician. He told her to get some Ipecac to make her vomit. I’ve never heard of the stuff but with a name like Ipecac…it’s got to work. She ran down to the drug store and made it back in 15 minutes of so.

Then they went into the bathroom where she gave WunderKid3 the medicine. Sure enough in 15 minutes, she started to vomit. It turns out she picked out all the red Flintstones vitamins…Don’t ask me how I know this.

After about 30 minutes, there was nothing left to toss up. WunderWife wrapped her in a blanket and put her in my lap where I held her until my arm fell asleep. Then we moved to our bed where she wanted me to lie next to her.

After about 30 minutes, she felt well enough to go down to the den to watch TV. So, I took her down and held her in my recliner. We decided to give her a little juice.

Wrong move.

Kids don’t seem to make much noise before the blow chunks. Nope. She was just sitting there in my arms when Niagara-freaking-Falls starts coming out. At least it was just the juice, but I was still wearing it.

She was fine the rest of the night. Just tired. That is one of the side effects plus puking your brains out tends to wear you out.

Since she got it all out of her system, the doctor did not seem too concerned, but it tore me up.

Just go ahead and give me the Worst Father of the Year Award. Geesh.

It had to be no more than 5 to 10 minutes she was alone. She pushed the laundry basket over to the counter. Climbed onto the counter, stood up on the counter, opened the cabinet door, found the vitamins, opened a child proof cap, picked out the red ones and chowed down. Those that know WunderKid3 know she is a tiny little thing, which makes this stunt even more amazing.

Wow. I’m just grateful I saw that she ate the vitamins and that we were able to do something before she did any damage.

Oh by the way, it turns out she had probably 10 or a little more vitamins. When I showed the bottle to WunderWife, she exclaimed that she had to have eaten more than 4.

Thank you Lord that she is OK.

But she did scare the hell out of me and I’m still a bit shaky.