I decided to spare you the agony I endured for hours last night by telling you the end of the story first. I'm nice like that. Our tv remote has lost its back, the part that covers the batteries. So two AA batteries are always exposed and occasionally pop out, particularly if a 1 yr old finds the remote and bangs it up and down a few times. Now I am a diligent caregiver to my child, so I try to keep it up where she can't reach it. But that thing sees a lot of action so sometimes it gets left down low. This happened last night (my bad), and Katy found it.
She and I were the only ones home, and it was quiet. At a particular time I saw the remote with both batteries intact. Maybe five minutes later she comes toddling into the kitchen to turn in a battery. I take it and go to put the whole thing up, out of reach. But when I find the remote, it is batteryless. Obviously the other one fell out on the floor. I search. I search some more. It is nowhere to be found. I look at my child. She is calm, grinning, not choking. Not only is she not choking, but she never made so much as a peep during the time when I know this thing came out of the remote. Still, its unsettling. But Katy is a hider. There is a purple pacifier somewhere in this house right now that we have been searching diligently for for about two months. She just walks around and drops items in the most random places. Baskets, shoes, toyboxes, etc. So I try not to panic, and keep looking. About this time, some guests (expected) arrived and I had to shift my search into low gear. When Jim returned, I pulled him aside to fill him in.
Me: She couldn't have swallowed it, right?
Jim: No.
Me: But how do you know?
Jim: She chokes on milk.
Me: You're right. She looks fine.
Jim: Yes.
Me: But where is it?
Jim: It could be anywhere. You know how she is.
Me: Maybe.
(he almosts leaves it)
Jim: But?
Me: But it is a battery. I mean, a penny would be one thing. If she got it down, she'd probably be okay until she, you know...
Jim: Right.
Me: But is a battery.
He goes for the flashlight. He does a very impressive search of the general vicinity. This should make me feel better, but the more it doesn't show up, the more I think she had to have swallowed it. Even though I completely agree that she couldn't have swallowed it without choking, which I would have heard. Our guests weigh in, saying there is no way she could have swallowed it. "Triple-A, maybe," one guest jokes.
Dude. That is so not funny. I do a quick mental check to see whether or not we have any AAA batteries in the kid zones. I think we are good.
We have a fun night with our friends, and eventually they all decide to go play football out in the street. I have to stay inside with the kids (sleeping) anyway, so I resume my search and call Julie. She knows I'm nuts and can generally talk me off a ledge or two. Some anxiety sufferers have drugs. I have Julie. I have a conversation with her that is similar to the one I already had with my husband. She doubts Katy could have swallowed it, but wonders about Dawson (our dog). Now I have something new to freak out about. You should know that I was belly down on the floor for this entire phone conversation... phone propped to my ear while I searched under everything in my kitchen with a flashlight.
Me: You know I prayed that I would find it.
Julie: Good.
Me: I asked Jesus to just please throw me a bone on this one, and let me find it tonight.
Julie: Good.
Me: Because He knows how I am, you know? He knows I'm just going to make myself sick worrying about it, even though I know everyone is right that she couldn't have swallowed it. But every month in Parents magazine, there is a little blurb about some mom who "learned the hard way" about some home accident or choking/burn/laceration danger, and the unthinkable happened... because she was just SURE that could never have happened at all. I have to be diligent! But I prayed and hopefully....
Julie: What?
Me: Oh my gosh!
Julie: What? Did you find it?
Me: (near tears) Its about two inches back under the stove. This is right where she handed me the other one. She must have dropped it.
Julie: Good! Katy didn't swallow a battery!
Me: She didn't! Woohoo!
Julie: Now you can sleep tonight.
Me: Yes. I found it. All is well.
And that is the story of a lost battery and a mom's worry and an answered prayer and a restful night's sleep. The end.
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1 comment:
The exact same thing happened to me with my Golden Retriever. We had bought a new tv and the batteries were in a little bag and then they were gone... $1000 later at the vet in Montreal (in which we subjected poor Riley to charcoal and laxatives for 24 hours) my husband found the batteries in the front yard. That was a really expensive television, but I got it in the divorce. And the dog.
All's well that ends well.
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