Thursday, November 29, 2007

Feeling like a total jerk

Yesterday I had a phone conversation that I never thought I would need to have. I have to give you a little context for the conversation. I woke up to Karis' typical morning cries letting me know she was ready to greet the day. I picked her up, took her into the kitchen with me, poured some water for myself, grabbed a banana, and headed into the living room. Just a few seconds after feeling proud of myself for such amazing multi-tasking skills, I sat down and DID IT. Did what, you ask? I poked Karis in the eye with the banana! I must let you know here that she is fine! No real harm done. She started crying right away and I knew I had poked her. I felt HORRIBLE!!! Any parent who has mistakenly hurt their child (i.e. bumped head, stubbed toe, poked in eye with fruit) can attest to the absolute cruddiness of the feeling you have. The eye looked ok once she stopped crying. But just to be sure I put in a call to the pediatrician. The conversation with the nurse went like this:

Me: Hi. This is going to sound strange, but....um....well, I accidentally poked my daughter in the eye....[I start laughing here] with a banana.
Nurse: [Silence. Absolute, deafening, "what kind of parent are you" silence].
Me: I am sorry. It is NOT funny. So what should I do?
Nurse: [In a professional tone she proceeds to tell me what to do].

Once I got off the phone I went and told Matt that I was pretty sure the woman put a note in Karis' file red flagging us of potential parental neglect of our child. Not only did I hurt her, but I proceeded to laugh about it. I half expect the Department of Social Services to give us a call. Thank goodness she is ok...and if she ever asks me if I ever poked her in the eye with a banana, I can say, "Sit down, Honey. I have a story to share."

5 comments:

Brooke said...

don't worry, Jesse accidently whacked Autumn in the head with a bat a number of times as a child and look how she turned out!

Anonymous said...

Dearest Alina---Doesn't it make you feel like the worst person in the world when you accidentally hurt your own child? Wait till you accidentally close their fingers in the door; car or house door---You'll be wishing you had only poked her in the eye with a banana.....Sounds like you are leaving Calif just in the nick of time--you might not want to leave a forwarding address.Love always, Mama K

Jenny said...

That was a pretty funny story Alina! I can feel your pain, although I don't think I ever admitted my accidental abuse to anyone else! Glad Karys is ok!

Unknown said...

In moments like those, call your friends who have kids. They know what to do because they have already done it. Chances are, they can tell you a worse story to make you feel better. I'll e-mail you a couple of examples and you will feel so very much better! I love you much and know that you are a wonderful Mommy. You guys are in my prayers. When will your actual move be?

Unknown said...

Oh, and my pediatrician told me to view the bumps and bruises as my kids growing. As they grow, they run into new things, climb and fall from new heights, get in mommy's way a bit more...