Adventures in Parenting: Lessons I Learned Today

It's been a busy morning around here.  My plan for this morning included the following:

1. Finish the laundry. (Translated this means - sort, fold, hang, and put away approximately 7 loads of laundry.  Oh, yeah...don't forget the two loads that are currently washing and drying!)
2. Make casseroles for Bible study.
3. Clean up the house.
4. Prepare lunch and snacks for the afternoon.
5. Get ready for afternoon errands/outings and Bible study this evening.

This was all supposed to be done by about...now.  But, as is to be expected, things have only gone a little bit according to plan.  Here is what this morning has actually included:

1. Start the laundry.  (That means we have started the two loads to wash and dry and the other 7 loads are neatly sorted into giant piles to be dealt with at a later time.)
2. Track down NON-washable markers throughout the house in order to avoid messes.
3. Clean up toothpaste from the carpet.
4. Clean up more toothpaste from the carpet and then call Poison Control when it is discovered that Jeremiah (9 months old) not only has toothpaste all over his face, but also has the OPEN tube of toothpaste IN HIS MOUTH!!!
5. Learn valuable information from the helpful woman from Poison Control.
6. Make casseroles for Bible study.
7. Print out Greek alphabet for inquisitive 5-year-old.
8. Keep Abigail from playing in the kitchen sink.

And here's what I've learned this morning.  Three valuable bits of information that will, hopefully, not be needed in the future.

1. A 15 lb. baby can swallow up to 1 oz. of fluoridated toothpaste that contains sodium fluoride at 0.243% and still be safe.
2. If a 15 lb. baby (or any other size human being) happens to swallow some toothpaste, and you don't happen to know how much that person swallowed, the person should be given some milk or other food/drink with calcium in order to help absorb the fluoride.  If that person should throw up more than two times, he or she should be taken to the emergency room.  (Praise God, we are not in the emergency room this morning!)
3. If you happen to call 911 or Poison Control and your only phone (a cell phone) is an out-of-state number, you will be connected to the call centers in your phone number's area code.  Note to Self: Switch to a Texas phone number as soon as possible.  Calling Poison control in NY is all well and good, but if ever we need to call 911 I'd rather not have to wait to be transferred to a truly local call center.

And one last thing...this recipe is really amazing!  We tried it with eggplant and it looks and smells so good I wish I could dig into it for lunch instead of waiting for Bible study tonight.