A Blue Day

Are you wondering why my hands are blue? Oh, you can’t see my hands, can you?
Well, my hands, especially my fingertips are a great shade of bruise blue. That dark, purply color. The poison control center said it might take three days to wear off. Try baby oil, but it will probably be there for three days. Yes, I did say poison control center. Yes, this is about the twins. You see, their hands are blue, too, and Mark’s lips, tongue, and mouth are also blue. I see your raised eyebrows. I sense your concern. Let me enlighten you.

I have been fighting a never-ending cough, a real nasty one. It has descended into my lungs and made itself at home. Very painful. I have sought medical attention and I am hopefully on the way to recovery, but I digress.. (You want to know about the blue, right? Keep reading.)

Since it hurts when I move or speak, I am trying to avoid those activities. This makes home-schooling and parenting a tad difficult, so I actually let the troops watch TV this morning. That Curious George is cute. The TV is in Ry and I’s room and sits on my craft desk (I haven’t ‘crafted’ since before the twins were born) so it’s a great place for the TV. However, the drawers still contain craft supplies. I thought I had secured these items, but I underestimated the abilities of my sons. I was mistaken….

Tim came bounding down the stairs, “The boys have something. I don’t know what it is, but it looks messy and Mark is eating it.” The bathrobed woman sprang into action as if her lungs were perfect, bounded up the stairs and soon discovered several open squirt bottles of craft ink, and two very blue boys. Did you know you can’t raise your voice when your lungs are unhappy?

The hardest part was keeping them from touching anything while I brought them downstairs to wash them up.
The good news: They didn’t “paint” anything. There’s only some ink on the carpet. The rest was on a plastic tote and was relatively easy to clean. No one had squirted it into anyone’s eyes. Only one twin ingested it. The ink is acid-free and non-toxic. Poison Control was helpful and even said, “I hope your day gets better.” How sweet.

And so another morning draws to a close at the Westphal home…