The $500 Christmas Present

Does this look like it's worth $500? It should be. What is it, you ask? In reality, it's a robe rope, or wrap, or tie , or whatever. This was the cause of serious contention. Maggie played with it all day on Thursday. Michael took it from her when he got home from school. It all went downhill from there. Michael decided to bring it to pack meeting. I've never seen so many tears from two children. Back and forth, grabbing from each other. People were looking at them wondering what they were fighting over. I finally took it away. I wanted to burn it. After days like this, I wonder why we buy Christmas presents. Why do we spend over $300 on Christmas and a robe tie seems to be the most spectacular thing ever? We don't even have the robe anymore.

Then there's Max. On Thursday night he told me he swallowed the chain that holds his dog tags. He swallowed about 2 inches of the chain. I called my friend/medical consultant and she said that he should be fine. I mentioned to Max that if it starts causing pain, he might have to have surgery. He wasn't in serious pain. Friday morning I got a call from the school. Max was on the phone and he he had a stomach ache. I said I'd pick him up. He told me to take him straight to the Dr.'s office. I couldn't find the car keys so I had to have a friend take me to his school. Max did not look in pain, nor did he seem distressed. He was a little bummed that I wasn't taking him straight to the Dr.'s. He was also disappointed that he wasn't having immediate surgery. As we were driving he said, "can I go back to my old school and see my friends?" When we got home he said "mom, all my friends think I am having surgery today. What am I going to tell them?" I told him they would forget all about it by Monday. His teacher called that night worried that he was going to have surgery. I guess it was an attention-grabbing story for him to share at school. I remember I let Max limp on his foot for three days. My neighbor convinced me to take him to the Dr.. It turned out he broke his foot. It's hard to know when something is REALLY wrong. My friend works in an ER. She told me the only object she's seen removed (that's been swallowed) was a battery. The acid in the battery can be harmful. She's had patients that have swallowed an open safety pin, coins, all types of objects but they weren't removed. Maybe this will save you a $25 co-pay to your Dr. or $100 to the ER. You can use the extra money and buy your kids a tie that wraps around a robe.