That can NEVER happen to my child......

Oh yes it can.

Something happened last night.  And as embarrassing/shameful as it is to share, because it shows my failure as a mother in that incident, I am hoping that this will be a WARNING to all mothers out there.

I vacuum my floors every other day.  I should do it every day because of the pets but I don't.  Jake got a hold of a football toy that was Scott's.  He slobbed it all up and managed to chew off the white plastic part that was the laces of the football.  I picked it up right away and threw it away.

Nick took Scott back to give him a bottle and put him to bed and he mentioned something about how it looked like he was chewing.  We agreed that it was due to his teething and so was the drooling.  Scott took the bottle then went to bed.

About two hours later he started to fuss so I went in to see what was wrong.  He was really stuffy so I set him upright on his changing table and when I leaned him back to snort out his nose I noticed something white in his mouth.  OH MY GOD it was part of the white plastic thing from that football.  Thought #1 - holy shit (pardon me)!  He could have choked and died right in his crib right under our noses!  Thought #2 what the hell kind of mother doesn't look into her child's mouth when it looks like he is chewing on something?  Thought #3 - HOLY SHIT, MY CHILD COULD HAVE CHOKED ON THIS AND DIED!

Needless to say, I was a complete mess.  I was so messed up.  I was crying and I couldn't put him down.  I sat down in the chair to rock with him and he fell asleep and I just sat there CRYING and thanking God for watching over Scott, when I had failed to do that myself.  I am still so upset about this.  I can't believe that I didn't just check in his mouth.

I guess when it comes down to it, I'm not a bad mother.  I just made a mistake.  Yes, a mistake that could have turned out very badly, but it didn't and now I need to learn from it.

So, if you think it can't happen to your child, it can, and it probably will no matter how many times a day/week you vacuum, or clean up or pick up.  You child, especially a batboy toddler, will find things you didn't know were there so you need to be incredibly careful to make sure you pick up every single little thing.

Last night could have turned out so differently, so awful, but it didn't.  I made a vow last night that I will never again have the attitude that "it will never happen to my child" and I ask that you, too, make that same vow right now.