The Pinata Story

If you have multiple children, perhaps you have learned a similar lesson: In the event that said children are playing happily in another room, do not interrupt. If you dare to check in on them and, say, admire their happy playing, the spell will be broken and fighting will ensue.

Last Saturday, Lily and Mason were having a wonderful time. Lily was throwing a birthday party for Mason and he was beyond thrilled. She was even going to make him a pinata!!!, or so I overheard. I did catch a glimpse of him and he was beyond giddy. He only discovered the sweetness of pinatas a few weeks ago, so the memory was making him rather excited.

I went about my business, careful to remember the do-not-interrupt lesson I have learned and the party went on, eventually evolving into some other form of imaginary play in which Lily was the boss.

Awhile later, I dared to enter Mason's play-torn bedroom and noticed a small pile of children's multi-vitamins in his closet. "What are these doing here?" I asked.

"Ooooh! Those are my caaaandy! Lily put them in my pinata!!!"

"What? These are not candy. Where's Lily? How did she get them? How many did you eat?"

On a side note, you should know that Mason has inherited my sweet tooth. It's ginormous. Those of us who have it can eat an unbelievable amount of sugar and feel just fine. The tolerance level is ridiculous.

So anyway, I scoop up the remaining vitamins, put them on the counter near the bottle with the rest of them, and we scurry out the door to a family gathering. A few hours later, Mason is experiencing some serious gastro-intestinal discomfort that requires multiple, speedy trips to the restroom, if you get my drift. On about the fourth trip he told me, "Maybe I shouldna eaten so many vitamins..."

Oh, yeah...the vitamins. Eek, buddy, I guess not!

We returned home for a late bedtime and after tucking the kiddos into bed, I decided to check the vitamin bottle to see how many were left. It was empty. And there were 11 on the counter. And the bottle held 120 and it wasn't that old. I was trying to remember how full it was when I started reading the label: "This product is potentially fatal if used in excess of the recommended amount. Call Poison Control immediately if overdose is suspected."

"Hello, Poison Control, this is Chad..."

As it turns out, if you don't know how many iron-containing multi-vitamins your 40-lb 3-yr old could have possibly eaten, Poison Control will actually call ahead to your local emergency room and reserve a spot for you. How convenient.

Since Mason appeared healthy and chatty and totally fine, things moved slowly in the ER, as is always a good thing. We got to read books and watch Curious George while Mason had his blood drawn ("See, this is why we only eat ONE vitamin a day!").

Thankfully, he was fine. His iron/lead levels were on the high end of normal, but they were still normal. His potassium was also fine. They figure he ate around 30 vitamins. A child of his size can eat 36 before needing immediate medical attention. It may have helped that Mason is typically anemic, which is why we have to buy the iron-containing vitamins in the first place :).

So, the moral of the story is: Pinatas are super fun, but use real candy instead of multi-vitamins!

And the other moral of the story is: Don't assume your 6-year-old can't open child-safe bottles!

And the third moral of the story is: Don't give your younger siblings or yourself ANY medicine!

And the fourth moral of the story is: Only eat ONE vitamin a day!