The Return of the Little Yellow Ball

Things happen quickly around here. Kate did something to Pete, which I did not see. Pete retaliated, which left both of them wailing. Carl, ever valiant, came to Kate's rescue by launching himself at Pete. I was simultaneously trying to send Kate to The Mat and get Carl away from Pete before it turned into an all-out boxing match (I failed in said attempt). Everyone was screaming.

At last, Kate was on the mat contemplating her misbehavior (or playing with her toes), Pete was on the couch, and Carl was in my arms, still swinging. I got them calmed down and apologizing and released Kate from her sentence before The Mat became too much fun.

"Where's Ed?"

He was eating. But then his bottle was on the floor, empty. I looked under the table. I looked in the serra. I looked outside. I lost the baby.

"Guys, where's Ed?" Nothing. "Guys, I'm not kidding, where is your brother?" This heightened their concern and they started a search...

...which led us outside and between the cars where Ed was sitting.

"He's got something in his mouth," Carl said.

Sure enough, the baby was trying to chew on something. I tried to pry his mouth open, which is a lot harder than you might think. I couldn't see anything, but Carl did.

"It's a yellow ball!" he cried, clearly panicked. (See previous entry: "I not gonna do that again.") The kids are well aware of how dangerous small objects are for their beloved Ed. They stepped it up. Pete started beating on whatever body part he could reach, yelling, "Choke! Choke!" while Carl tried to shove his very dirty fingers into Ed's mouth to retrieve this little ball. I don't think Kate really knew what was going on, but she did her best to help, screaming and trying to hit Ed.

It was so loud, I wasn't able to get much direction in. Ed started crying, totally freaked out. With one arm, I held Ed on his feet and used the other to fend off Kate and Pete. I tried to stop Carl before he managed to push the little yellow ball down Ed's throat, but he got it out before I had the chance.

Crisis averted.

I took Ed inside and by the time I had put him on the floor, Carl had found the gun to which this little ball belongs and was loading and shooting, loading and shooting.

"Carl, were you there for anything that just happened? We don't want those little balls around. Go throw it away."

He started screaming in protest, naturally. While he was distracted by his own tantrum, Pete wrestled the ball out of his hand. Pete sprinted to the garbage can, closely followed by Carl, who was poised and ready to hit.

The ball made it into the trash. Pete got smacked. Carl spent five minutes on The Mat.