AAAHHHHHH!!!

So, today I had one of my first real, scary mothering experiences. I was cleaning my mom's house (in exchange for babysitting while I go hunting this weekend) and Mikin was there with her kids as well. Cade and Ella were off playing together upstairs. I am talking to Mikin downstairs. Just hanging out like normal.

All of the sudden, I hear Cade start screaming BLOODY MURDER at the top of the stairs (not like 'I'm mad she stole my toy' but a REAL 'I'm hurt bad' cry). I immediately start heading that way and Ella meets me at the bottom of the stairs saying, "Cade got something in his eyes!". So, I rush to the top of the stairs. His hair is soaked, his face is soaked and he is rubbing his eyes like crazy and trembling. All I smell is orange citrus and then I grab his hands and they feel oily. I immediately freak out and think, 'PLEDGE'.

I rush over to the bathroom sink upstairs and start freaking out washing his eyes over and over with cold water----meanwhile, yelling for Ella to get me the bottle of whatever was in his eyes. She just kept saying "I didn't do it! I didn't do anything!". So, finally I had to calm myself down (while Cade is still SCREAMING harder than I have ever heard him before and trying to rub his eyes) and tell her, "Ella, you're not in trouble. I just need to know what is in Cade's eyes. Can you get me the bottle, please?" So, while she is away I just keep thinking 'My son is going to be blind. My son is going to be blind'. She brings me the bottle. It is an all natural Orange Citrus, fragrance bottle. Supposed to eliminate odors and VERY strong. It basically was like spraying 15 lemons in his eyes.

So, I am crying with him, continuing to force his open eyes under the water when my mom and Mikin hear the commotion and come running as well. At this point, Ella all of the sudden starts to FREAK OUT screaming, crying saying "It's on me!! It's in my hair!" It took a minute to kick in, but she had sprayed it in her hair and her whole head was burning. My mom starts reading the bottle of what to do if there is contact with skin (of course it says "avoid contact with the eyes or sensitive skin areas) and it says wash with warm water and soap because of the OIL in it.

At this point, Cade started calming a little bit (not screaming quite as hard) after about 5 minutes of continually rinsing his eyes and then he starts freaking out about his head too. Rubbing and rubbing it. So, we throw them both in the tub, wash their hair good. Ella starts to feel better, but is still crying. Then Mikin asks her, "Ella? Did you spray this?"

"Yeah."

"How did you spray it?

"I pushed the button really hard."

"Where did you spray it on Cade?"

"I sprayed it in his hair and in his eyes and in my hair, too."

The truth comes out. Cade was still not content so we took him out of the bath and continued to flush his eyes with water and saline for another 5 minutes. Ella continued to cry in distress for Cade. She was so worried.

Eventually, Cade calmed down. His eyes were totally bloodshot and his face is still red where we didn't wash with soap and water around his eyes. One eye is a little swollen. We called poison control, though and we pretty much did all we could do. They are now both fine and the redness and swelling has gone down. He seems like he can see. Thank heavens it was all natural ingredients!

While we had the now-calm kids all cuddled up with us in towels on a bed after all of the mayhem, Cade fell asleep on Mikin's chest and Ella looks at me and says, "Brynnee, is Cade okay?". My heart melted. "Yeah, he's okay. Are you okay?" "No." Poor thing. We had a good little talk about poison safety.

This was a GREAT reminder to keep a better eye on the things kids can get a hold of.