A Nickel for your thoughts....

I'm not even sure where to begin with how today, and in particular this afternoon went. Soooo....I guess I'll start at the beginning.

• We were a little on the late side to preschool, but not bad. They were still running the car rider line so I was able to push the boys out and keep on driving.
• Josie was a little clingy and needy in the morning but I was able to get a fair amount of work done.
• We went to pick up the boys and that was when the fun began (depending on your perspective of things). Doug was wearing pants that are a little lose. I suppose it could be partly due to underwear not being as thick as a pull-up but I think he may have also grown a bit taller and lost a little around the middle in the process. His pants kept falling down. If I had known how bad it was this in the morning I would have put a belt on the child but I hesitated to do it because I didn't want to impede the child getting to the potty. Anyway, he kept showing off his butt and then when we got out to a grassy area alongside the walkway to the car both he and Andy decide that they want to pee...outside. Now a friend of their usually goes over in a corner behind a bush in this general area but the grass was wet and squishy from rain in the morning and they just both dropped their pants and started peeing while standing in full view of the whole world. My hands were full of backpacks and papers. Fortunately the only people to see them were a little girl from their class (who apparently has older brothers) and her mother who I had been chatting with on the way out. We had a long discussion about privacy on the way home.
• Then at home the kids ate lunch fairly well, but Josie is refusing to go for a nap.
• Andy decides he wants to pee outside again so I send him to the back yard. I thought he was going to come straight back in because he didn't have his shoes on but he proceeds to run around and play in the back yard in socks in the still slightly wet ground.
• I get him back in clothes and shoes and he has a poop accident (his first in about a week). I'm trying to get him and his clothes cleaned up and herd Doug and Josie inside and the phone rings. Too many things going on at once!!!!
• Fortunately getting all of them inside is a good thing because about 5 minutes later it begins to pour down rain.
• While inside Josie comes up to me acting like she has a bad taste in her mouth. She says "money....get it" while pointing to her mouth.
• I talked with Jim and I did get Josie to say that she ate some money. I have no clue what size coin and all I can think about is how small she is and what if she swallowed a quarter....So I call poison control because it is the first number I could find and I really wanted a second opinion about letting it pass versus taking her some place.
• They take down a bunch of information and suggest going to get an X-ray to make sure that it isn't lodged somewhere. We ended up going to the emergency room (it was the closest X-ray I could think of) and Jim met us there.
• Sure enough, Josie swallowed a nickel and it shows up bright and shiny on the X-ray. The ER doc called someone else to consult and they decide that the nickel is small enough and already in her tummy that she might pass it on her own. If we don't see it in a week we are supposed to go get another X-ray.
• Oh, and Poison Control does follow-up calls. I can understand the call to see what the prognosis was but when I said that we were supposed to wait for it to pass the person said they would call back in about a week. I was thinking...do you just need to put a resolution? Are you going to come search my house to make sure that I am not leaving money around for my children to swallow? What's the point if I am now in consultation with a doctor and you are at some 1-800 center. Anyway it seems annoying and slightly intrusive to have a second call back. Hopefully I'll spot the coin and be able to call them sooner (I already know that pink crayon takes about 4 days to get through the digestive system...)

It has been a day to say the least and hopefully my children did not pick up any horrible language from their mother because I did say a few choice words in their presence today.