The Screw.

A couple of weeks ago, I realized that even when you think your home is kid proof, a child always has to prove otherwise...
Gavin and I were in the living room watching Spongebob, and I noticed that he was next to the tv trays. The tv trays that we have are on a wooden stand and he was sitting on the floor just banging the trays together to make a nice clanking sound. At one point I happened to look closer at what he was doing and noticed that a screw in the base of the holder was missing. So I asked him where it was at, thinking maybe he put it somewhere. Yeah, he put it somewhere...his mouth. At least thats what he was telling me...

Me: "Gavin, where is the screw?"
Gavin: (opens his mouth and points inside)
Me: "You swallowed it???!"
Gavin: "Yep"

Now, this conversation repeated itself numerous times. Each time I got the same reply, sometimes with a little laugh, like "Duh, ma, what did I tell you before?" I was really trying not to believe that he swallowed a screw. I looked all over the living room and could not find it. Finally, I decided to unscrew the other screw to see just what it was that he "swallowed". Holy cow! That screw was an inch long and a half inch wide! No exaggeration...I measured it!
Okay, so at this point I was starting to worry. So I called the doctors office and the nurse said that the good news was that he wasn't having any difficulty breathing. The bad news was that I needed to take him to ER for some x-rays. Great. Last time he had x-rays was when he choked on something and I wanted to make sure he didn't swallow anything. And he screamed the whole time.
On the way to the hospital, I made some phone calls to the family to let everyone know what was going on. Amber, my mother in law, offered to meet me at the hospital so I wouldn't have to be alone. (Erin was at work.) I took her up on it. And I was so happy and thankful for her being there. She was great with Gavin, entertaining him, holding him, pinning him down for the x-ray (that broke my heart) and consoling him (I wanted to do that but he didn't want me...probably thought it was my fault he was there!)
Turned out that the little monkey was telling me the truth the whole time. He DID swallow the screw. The doctor wasn't too concerned as it was in his stomach and not lodged somewhere. He said that we would just have to wait for it to pass. If Gavin showed any signs of fever, tummy ache, etc., then we would have to take him back in to ER.
Well, it took a couple days, but the screw did turn up. And no, I didn't show Gavin what was in his diaper. I didn't want him to get any other ideas about swallowing something just to see it turn up in his diaper. :) For about a week after the incident, he reminded me each day, several times a day, that he swallowed that screw. Bless his little heart...I guess I need to make sure I believe him from now on.