Do Children Have A "Self-Destruct" Gene?

I have come to believe my children might be self-destructive...

Evidence #1: At the beach this weekend (lovely weather, great place to stay) my 3-year-old found a pill in the corner of a room in the hotel and apparently opened it and she said, upon interrogation, she put some in her mouth. (In case you are wondering, I was changing my 2-year old's diaper at the time.) Immediate panic!! After anguished "Should we call 911?!" I decided to call Poison Control first to identify the pill. The very nice lady identified the pill as Detrol - a bladder control pill. While we were on the phone, Aubrey looked at me very solemnly (she knew I was totally beside myself!) and said, "Are you calling the police? Please don't call the police." Where do they get these ideas? If I hadn't been about to vomit myself I may have laughed. Instead, it just broke my heart. "You are not in trouble, honey, but don't EVER pick up something on the floor and put it in your mouth. This is serious." Poison control reassured us that there was no danger, especially since much of the powder was on the floor, but we should watch for signs of dehydration. Crisis over, adrenaline levels declining.

Evidence #2: On the way to swim lessons yesterday, I looked in my rear view (which I have tilted so that I can see the kids in the back) and see my son has unlatched the top harness of his car seat. At the time, I am in the worst possible place to pull over, so I start to look for a break in traffic to move over and pull over. Instantaneously, my son pulls the handle to the door. No worries, right? It is child-locked. Only it is somehow NO LONGER child-locked and the door begins to open. I am chanting, "Don't panic" (but I am panicking!) and begin to slow and pull over into the median - which is big ditch. Half-in and half-out of busy traffic, I park, leap out, and swing the door open to fix his harness, yell "No!" twenty times, and relock the door. As I get back in, I see a police officer has pulled over behind me. Now I am sure I am going to get twenty tickets and have my children removed. But this sweet, kind soul just helps me merge back into traffic! Then, two minutes later, Eli tries it again!!!! This time, though, the door couldn't open (thank goodness!), I had moved to the right-hand lane with plenty of side roads to pull into, and I was able to get out safely. Then I cranked the harness so tight I am surprised he didn't have blue arms when we got there.

Truly, it is only through the grace of God that children make it to adulthood! As paranoid as I am about safety (and I know I can be terribly over-protective), incidents like these slip through the cracks of life - and make me SO GRATEFUL my children are currently able to snuggle into my arms.