Bad Parent of the Year 2010

And the winner is : ........(drumroll).........ME!

*sigh*

And only a week to go 'till Mother's Day. I got my entry in just in time!

This is how it went down:

time: a scant 2 hours before church.

place: bathroom with a hot curling iron plugged in (unbeknownst to dad who was shaving right next to said curling iron).

victim: Sweet Little Violet.

You can just picture it right now, can't you? I stepped away to wash Grace's hair in the other bathroom leaving the curling iron cord dangling over the counter. Violet wasn't even in the bathroom when I stepped out. She went in when Curtis started shaving and he didn't realize that she was there. When I heard her crying Hannah was holding her (yes, she too had been standing right there). Curtis said that she pulled the curling iron down and it hit her in the face.

"Good thing it wasn't turned on," he said.

But I knew that I had turned it on already. I scanned her her face and baldish head but found no burns anywhere. I took her from Hannah to give her further comfort. As I held her I noticed her arm was burned. Above her elbow it was only slightly red, but all down her forearm and on the back of her hand by her pinkie it was badly burned.

I almost fainted. And I'm not generally a fainter.

For a few seconds I couldn't think.

"What do I do?" I said out loud several times.

Then I snapped to it and got her arm under running water. After applying a wet cloth to it I set off for urgent care. I checked in, paid $100, got called back, and was told that they don't treat baby burns there (in a record 10 minutes). I would have to go downtown to the AZ Burn Center. Why couldn't they have given me that gem of info BEFORE they took my $100?

So off to 24th street and Roosevelt we went. The ladies at the burn center were sooooo nice. They made me feel better by telling me that this kind of thing happens ALL THE TIME! But it shouldn't have happened to my sweet little baby. I'm sick over it.

And now I get to bathe her twice a day, scrape (?!?!?!?) her skin, apply silver-something-or-other to gauze, and cover her poor little arm in a very intricate bandage that is sooooo hard to put on a squirming 10 month old.

This is quite possibly the worst injury that we've had to deal with. We've had stitches, broken bones, abscessed teeth, teeth pulled, heck! Zane almost knocked his front tooth clean out when he was 11 months old. It was sticking straight out the front of his face like a shelf. I had to push it back in flush with his other teeth. It's still sticks out a little to this day.

But burns! They are nasty! While I was bathing and scraping dead skin tonight, again I almost fainted.

Someone told me earlier this evening that after their daughter had dropped a hot iron on her foot she had to scrape skin and apply silver-whosiewhat'sit twice a day FOR WEEKS!!! I can't even remember to give my child antibiotics on a regular basis and I have to do this for weeks?!

And now everyone; go unplug your curling irons. And if your baby gets burned don't go to urgent care. Save yourself your co-pay and go straight to the AZ Burn Center at County hospital.

These two don't even look like cousins, let alone sisters.