Mommy Fail #1

My first big mommy mistake.

I found a cat toy under my bed earlier and rolled it to the middle of my bedroom floor. A plastic ball with a bell inside. Elise was crawling around on my floor and she discovered the toy. Jingle, jingle. She was shaking it and having fun so I let her play with it.

While she played I set to cleaning out a bag I used to carry to work. Oh, look at this! And I remember this! I was engrossed. Then the jingling stopped.

I peeped around the edge of my bed and saw Elise sitting there WITH THE ENTIRE BALL IN HER MOUTH! She was trying to close her lips around it but it was too big and I could still see the clear blue plastic.

There's no way she could have swallowed it... but I don't think she could have gotten it back out of her mouth without some help. Oh man, I felt bad. Thank god it was something too big to fit down her throat. Something with a bell, so I could tell she was up to no good.

I distinctly recall on more than one occasion when I was little when my mother called to my sister and me from another room, "What are you girls up to? It's too quiet in there!" Well, we weren't swallowing cat toys, but we were probably doing something just as silly. I'm thinking about outfitting Elise with a bell all the time now. I know the cats will appreciate it, too.