Cruiser's Safety Tales: Baby Sister's Scary Snack Attack!

Hello Friends!

Every night before bed, my family gathers in the family room to play. I never know what each night will bring, I only know it is going to be awesome!

Some of my favorite family time activities include racing my super charged toy cars, building a tower with my building blocks, putting a puzzle together, or boogying down during a sizzlin' family dance party to my favorite music.

Well, last night family time was a little shorter than usual, and a lot scarier.

My dad and I were building a super gigantic tower with my building blocks while my mom was playing with my baby sister on the floor. Just as I placed the last block on my super tower, it fell over on top of me and my dad. "Timber" my dad shouted as blocks rained down on our noggins.

As we laid there in a pool of building blocks laughing, my mom reminded us that building blocks are only for big boys and girls and that we needed to clean them up when we were done to make sure my baby sister could not get a hold of them.

As my dad and I started to clean up the blocks we realized it could take a little while since they were spread out all over the place after hitting the hard floor. My dad and I decided to have a race to see who could clean up the most blocks the fastest, but as soon as we started racing, the phone rang and my dad had to answer it.

My dad apologized and told me that he had to stay on the phone for a little bit, and asked me to finish cleaning up my blocks by myself before bed. This was very disappointing since I was winning our clean up race, and now cleaning up this big mess was no longer going to be fun.

After a very long and boring time, I finally finished cleaning up all of my blocks. As I placed the lid on the block's box, I noticed there was a bunch more blocks under the table in my family room. I realized that they must have slid under the table when they hit the floor, but nobody else saw them, and I was tired of cleaning up, so I left them there for the next time I played blocks. "I will clean them up next time" I thought to myself.

My dad called my mom into the other room to join him on the phone, and asked me to keep an eye on my baby sister. My mom placed her on her play mat on the floor next to me, and went into the next room with my dad.

Now, whenever my parents ask me to keep an eye on my baby sister they are never gone for long and I ALWAYS watch her very closely to make sure she is safe.

When I am watching my sister, our favorite game is "funny faces" because she thinks it is very funny when I close my eyes and go "blah" "blah "blah" with my tongue out. "Ok sis", I said, "here comes the funny face"! I closed my eyes and began my silly noises with my tongue. My baby sister was not laughing, so I decided that I would "blah" "blah" a little louder, and wave my hands next to my ears.

Still, I did not hear anything.

"Ok", I said, "here comes a super loud blah blah blah".

All of a sudden I heard my mom come in and ask me what I was doing and why I was being so loud, but before I could answer, she started to scream for my dad!

I opened my eyes and I saw my dad quickly move the table in my family room and pick up my baby sister. He placed her flat on top of his arm with her face down towards the floor and then he started to hit the upper part of her back. At first I thought he was burping her in some new weird way, but when I looked at my mom to ask what the heck he was doing, I noticed that she was crying and very scared as she watched my dad.

"WHATS HAPPENING?" I yelled as I was suddenly very scared as well.

All of a sudden my baby sister started to cry as one of my red building blocks shot out of her mouth onto the floor.

Quickly, I realized what had happened, and I felt very sad and almost started to cry. While my eyes were closed to play the funny face game, my sister must have seen the colorful blocks under the table and crawled over to them. I guess she thought that my blocks were yummy snacks because she ate one and started to choke.

I told my mom that I knew those blocks were there and that I was going to clean them up the next time, and that I was very very sorry. She gave me a big hug and told me that it was ok. Then she thanked me for being brave and telling her, and for being so honest.

So take my advice friends;

The next time your mommy or daddy ask you to clean up your toys, make sure you listen and clean them ALL up because they are only trying to make sure nothing bad happens. A toy that is left out could cause all sorts of problems. You may have a baby brother or sister or a pet that could choke on it, or somebody could trip over it and hurt themselves, or your toy could get lost or even BROKEN if it is not put away!

Also, make sure you tell your parents that they should know how to perform CPR on a child in case you or your brother or sister is ever choking! AND...that they should ALWAYS inspect the rooms you play in after you clean up to make sure that you did a good job because toys can hide under couches, tables, even rugs which could lead to scary situations....okay?

Oh, and by the way, my baby sister was not only totally fine after what I call, her Scary Snack Attack, but my entire family ended "family time" with a super silly game of "funny faces". I laughed so hard I almost peed in my pants, and my baby sister definitely peed in her diaper.

Have A Safe-Tee-Riffic Day™!

- Cruiser Fox

PS: You can always find great safety tips at www.cruisinwithkids.com