the case of the missing spoon.

We have an amazing babysitter who gets to watch the kids when I work a few days a week. I really lucked out.  She is so patient, kind, loving and fun and the kids just adore going to her house to play with her kids.  They have turned more into family and we couldn't be more blessed.

One thing I love about Jessica (or Miss Jessica as the kids call her) is how she sends me little pictures or texts throughout the day to keep me in the loop.  I always know a text is a funny or good thing, but a phone call could be more serious.  So, naturally, I got a little concerned when I saw her calling my phone in the middle of a home visit last week at work.  Luckily I was finishing up my time with a new mom and checked my voicemail about 10 minutes later. She (calmly) said, "Don't worry, this isn't an emergency but I need you to call me back.  Right away. Like, right when you get this."  Hmmm…not an emergency, huh?

What happened was she gave Lucy a plastic (like picnic style plastic) spoon to use for her lunch that day since her normal spoons were dirty and they had been gone all weekend without time to do many dishes.  Not a huge deal.  Lucy is a calm, slow eater and I would never think twice about giving her a non-kid spoon. Welp, instead of just eating her lunch she decided to bite the spoon, break it and then tell everyone she swallowed the sharp, jagged part! When Jessica and the other kids couldn't find the missing piece anywhere, Lucy insisted she swallowed it.

So, after a quick phone call to cancel the rest of my appointments I drove to pick her up and headed to urgent care for an x-ray. And, quietly prayed she wouldn't need emergency stomach surgery after it tore up her insides (let's be honest, I think Jessica was praying harder than I was!)

This was the spoon.

 And this was my happy girl who was excited to have some alone time with me in the middle of the day while all the rest of the kids napped.

 I wasn't feeling too worried since she was so happy but knew we needed to double check her little tummy and intestines were all clear.

 After laying on the X-ray table with a stuffed monkey, making silly faces with the pediatrician and convincing the X-ray tech she needed not 1, but 3 princess stickers we waited about 10 minutes for an answer.

 And….she was all clear!  Who knows where the heck that missing spoon went but thank the Lord she didn't swallow it! So, naturally, she earned herself a big fat cookie.

Just another story I will want to remember 10 years from now!