never a dull moment

Garrett drew this picture the other night. In case you can't tell, it depicts Caleb grabbing the living room radiator pole and subsequently doing a lot of hysterical screaming. He calls it "Baby Crying," which I thought was a pretty accurate title: After he burned his hands, Caleb could not be consoled for nearly an hour. It was, like his artwork describes, chaos.

It happened Wednesday night while I was in the kitchen making dinner. The boys were playing in the living room and, judging by the noises I overheard, they were doing so happily and together.

Suddenly Caleb let out a horrific scream. I dropped my spatula and rushed out to the other room. The boys had apparently been playing by the window, which they do often as they like to watch the traffic below. As it happens, this window is adjacent to the radiator, which, as it also happens, was on.

Judging by the paralyzed stance I found Caleb in, he, not knowing any better, had grabbed the radiator pole with both hands. I hurried to put his hands under cool running water, but he would have none of that. In a second attempt to cool his hands down, I tried to see if he'd dip them into a bowl of water, but that didn't work either. Neither did trying to convince him to hold a plastic baggie filled with ice cubes. Finally I drew a cool bath and put him in the tub, which method worked the best, although still not perfectly. I knew he was hurting pretty badly because throughout all of this he would not stop screaming.

Frequent examinations of his hands and the horrible blisters that were forming proved that the burns were 2nd degree. Blake wasn't home (though, after a few desperate phone calls, he changed his evening plans at the church and would soon be on his way), I'd all but lost my voice thanks to an obnoxious and miserable cold I'm currently dealing with, and Caleb could not be consoled. The first aid I'd been administering didn't seem to be helping, and the Tylenol I'd given him for the pain obviously hadn't kicked in yet. I was starting to panic and so did the only other thing I could think of to do: I called my friend Emily and begged for help.

A few phone calls on her end later and not only was another priesthood holder arranged to help Blake give Caleb a blessing, but my friend, Nicole, who is a registered nurse, was on her way over to look at his hands. Her inspection of them convinced her that, while it certainly looked painful, it wouldn't do us any good to take him to the ER. (Hallelujah!) She picked up some 100% aloe vera, and the relief it gave Caleb must have been immense because not only did he finally stop screaming, but he also started to tentatively use his hands. Blake arrived home soon after and he, along with our neighbor, Ryan, gave Caleb a blessing. He has been fine ever since. (And we have some amazing friends, don't you think?)

I had our pediatrician look at his hands this morning when I took the boys in for their flu shots. He sent me home with a prescription for silver sulfadiazine, which should help keep the blisters from getting infected.

I tell you, that Caleb really does have a bit of the devil in him. Even our mailman, who just the other day, when he saw us waiting on the stoop for the school bus, observed that fact, and in those very words. (I had to laugh because he is spot on!) There is never a dull moment at our house, so long as Caleb is around. And it's taking a good deal of adjustment on my end. Garrett has always been such a cautious boy (which is why our radiators never got covered -- he knew instinctively to stay away). Caleb, on the other hand, throws caution to the wind (which is why, since I know I can't trust him to have learned his lesson, taking care of covering the radiators has become a much higher priority). He isn't a daredevil for sport, but he certainly isn't careful. I love him to pieces, of course, but he really needs to take his accident rate down a few notches, and soon.