Case in point:
Lil J was just beginning to roll over, but usually didn't move as much when she was calm and sleepy after a nice warm bath. She was all wrapped up naked and snug in her little hooded towel when I set her on the bed and turned around to grab her diaper that was hanging on the shower rod. Bet you can guess what happened next.
Yep, my giggly naked little infant was giddy as she turned herself over on her stomach. I saw her smile for a split second before her little body rolled off my California king-sized bed, feet first. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen. Luckily she wasn't hurt, just surprised into tears, and I scooped her up and soothed her.
Of course my husband came running upstairs to ask what happened and chastised me for turning away from her.
"It was only a second!" I defended.
But that was all it took.
You'd think I'd learn my lesson to never take my eyes of my little one, especially now that she is extremely mobile, opening drawers pulling things out, throwing things etc. I'm not sure if her favorite thing to get into is the spatula drawer or the toilet but neither are a real good thing.
She loves water so we have to be sure to shut the bathroom or else she'll crawl in and play in the toilet. Not climb in, but she'll splash around.--I know, it's gross. But we don't let her do it, we grab her and shut the door as soon as we see her going for it.
She also likes to play in the bathroom while I'm using the bathroom. I'll usually hand her something like a (closed) tube of mascara or a bag of baby wipes to keep her entertained, and from reaching behind my butt when I'm going to the bathroom. Last night, I handed her my blackberry.
After I was done, washed my hands, and ready to get a move on, I realized I had forgotten my iPhone on the porch, where we were just a moment before taking pictures. The guest bathroom is a few feet from our front door, so I left Lil' J content with my phone in the bathroom while I ran and opened the front door to grab my other phone.
Just a moment after shutting the toilet, turning away, and opening the front door to grab my phone I heard it... CLUNK!
It wasn't a large enough clunk to be Lil' J but it sounded a little louder than her hand. I turned back around and looked in the bathroom to see what I'm sure thousands of mom around the world have seen. A blackberry sinking to the bottom of the toilet, and a very proud baby looking down amazed--hand still outstretched, and palm still wide open with excitement over her achievement.
I couldn't be mad at her. I actually laughed. If I were watching a movie about this experience I would have seen this coming from a mile away. Turns out, Hollywood can be more realistic than I thought.
For a moment I even thought of taking a photo but that just didn't seem right. I'd better save the phone first. But inspired by Amber Dusick's series of "real life parenting" series, I decided to draw a depiction of how it went down. Dude, Paint is way better than Photoshop, I'm all over this!
I quickly grabbed it from the toilet, said a quick prayer of gratitude thanking the Lord for not letting us be one of those "if it's yellow let it mellow" families. --Maybe pre-kids but once you have a baby you've gotta flush that stuff. Or get a child safety lock on your throne, and hope you've never have a restroom emergency while forgetting how to get it unlatched.
I disassembled the phone and set it on the counter to let it air out. I had another phone once that had gotten a little wet, but after setting it in the sun to dry off for a bit it worked like a charm.
My husband got back from his jog and noticed my phone in pieces.
"What happened to your phone?" He asked me. I didn't feel like admitting my stupid mistake.
"Don't worry about it," I told him.
"Why it is in pieces?"
"Because she threw it... in the toilet" I added softly.
"She threw it?"
"Yes!!!" I was getting annoyed.
I don't know why he didn't just leave it alone but he put my phone back together and asked why it wouldn't turn on.
"BECAUSE SHE THREW IT IN THE TOILET. WILL YOU LEAVE IT ALONE?"
My patience was running out with these people as I was still looking for my other phone (which wasn't on the porch like I had thought).
After using "Locate my iPhone" to find it stuck between the couch on silent, (this is actually a really cool tool. You can get it to make a noise for two minutes even when it's on silent so you can find it) I was ready to handle to the original problem.
I grabbed the pieces of my blackberry, a Ziploc bag and some rice from my cabinet. I remember reading someone's facebook status just a day earlier about her son dropping her phone in the toilet (seriously, does this happen to everyone?) and several people had told her to put it in a jar/bag/container of rice and that it would suck the moisture out.
I'm not sure if it matters if the rice is white, brown, regular or minute, but I used the brown minute rice I had on hand.
I put all of the ingredients together in a Ziploc back and swished it around. Then I realized I wasn't making shake and bake chicken and that my additional technique probably wasn't necessary.
"What are you doing?" My husband again had the nerve to interfere.
I told him I had read somewhere that uncooked rice can help suck the water out of dunked phones.
"Really?" He wasn't buying it. "What if it's some kind of a sick joke to mess up your phone?"
"Well it's already broken anyway so it can't hurt," I pushed back. "Besides, this is like all over Twitter and Facebook, how could that many people be in on it?" I couldn't believe I had just cited social networking sites as my source but I guess that's the day and age we live in.
So my phone is sitting on my counter, immersed in a bag of uncooked rice. I would have been more devastated if this were my iPhone but my blackberry isn't as much of an addiction. I'll take it out of the bag in about 12 hours and hope for the best. I'll let you know if it works.
I'm also probably going to buy a few of these just in case.
Lolz!! She is soo adorable!! I pictured everything you wrote lol... I feel bad for your Blackberry but I feel even more bad for you! Lil' J totally loved the experiment though!
ReplyDeleteWe put our phone in a hot car window for a few hours if the rice doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteWe put our phone in a hot car window for a few hours if the rice doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is an IT guy and that's what he suggests. Also, in case it ever happens again, never try to turn it back on first thing. Once you get a little battery to go through it, it basically pushes the water into the electronic bits and that's what fries your phone. Good luck Jen!
ReplyDeleteDude. your husband got on MY nerves. LOL.
ReplyDeleteParenting is a crazy thing and you will make mistakes. Trust me when I say all of my kids have some seriously funny yet at the moment scary moments. Enjoy all the mishaps because they make great stories later on in their life.
ReplyDeleteI really don't know what it is about the toilet that is so darn interesting to small ones. My oldest wasn't too interested. He flushed two rolls of toilet paper down the toilet and completely flooded our bathroom once, and that was pretty much the end of his fascination with it. My daughter actually climbed into the toilet one day after I cleaned it. I literally turned my back to put my bucket and cleaning stuff in the hall and when I turned back around, in the toilet she sat, laughing. My youngest has only gotten in the toilet once. The doors been closed every time since.
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Oh, I'm feeling bad for your BB, feeling your annoyance at having to explain the incident to your hubby as 'it is what it is' (I go through this with my hubby a lot too) and laughing at you and Lil' J.
ReplyDeleteMy BB took many afternoon swims in the toilet. LOL. Rice in bowl works better than in a bag, in my experience. And if you use brown rice from a bag, rather than white, then you won't get all of the white flakes and powder on your phone from the rice. It will soak up the moisture in your phone ...however, just a word to the wise, be careful if you take it in to your provider and try and bat your eye lashes and say "I don't know , it just stopped working." Because if your phone is covered by insurance..it usually won't cover water damage or "user abuse". And there is a little sticker on the batter and on the inside of your phone, when it gets wed, it turns red and voids the coverage. However, it takes a long soak in water to turn the phone's sticker red, so you may be good. I've had 2 BB take a "bath" and the BB just ended up needing a new battery, because the battery usually gets the brunt of the damage and if you can wait 5 days, order one off ebay, they are like $4! Better than paying $30 from dealer! :)
"A tube of mascara" That's a BRILLIANT idea for an infant...NOT!
ReplyDeleteYou're right anonymous, but not as brilliant as my blackberry. That was a much better idea.
ReplyDeleteI bet you could come up with an even more awesome idea. Especially since you are so brave and all, leaving your name with your comment... NOT.
I think babies rolling off the bed is like a right of passage to toddlerhood. I have yet to meet a parent whose child has not taken a spill off the bed or some piece of furniture. So, don't feel guilty. Nothing could contain Moo. She would climb out of her playpen, the walker, the stroller, etc. So, there wasn't ever a safe place to leave her.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness we didn't go thru the dropped phone in the toilet experience but she did drop plenty of other things in there like toothbrushes, hair combs, lotion and more.
My lil guy has destroyed 3 of my blackberrries so I know exactly how this feels. Uncooked rice should work Just leave it for a day or so.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear from you in 12 hours! And don't worry it happens to all of us..try digital cameras? and how about your own toothbrush but you never knew it swam in the toilet until your oldest daughter waited long to tell you????
ReplyDeleteMy husband lost his Blackberry hiking in the mountains and didn't realize it until he got home. A couple of days later the two of us hiked back to look for it and just as we turned to go back home, I found it...in the bottom of the river. It had been in there for two days so we figured it was history. He put it in his windshield the next day and it worked fine! There is hope for yours!
ReplyDeleteI know people that swear by that rice trick so I think it will work. Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteMy phone took a 30min+ soak in a birdbath...don't ask. Anyway, I was told by a techie to put in a pot with a hairdryer on low aimed at it (secured in place by the pot lid) and let it dry for a couple hours. It not actually water that fries the electronics, but rather the corrosion water STAYING in electronics causes. The key is to get it dried out quick.
ReplyDeleteThe rice trick works! My husbands ipod got soaked the other day by a cup and stopped working and he put it in a bag of rice over night and it works great now! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteAny kind of rice does the trick! Isn't that such an awesome inexpensive fix?
ReplyDelete