For those of you with boys, you're gonna love this one. For those of you with just girls, you're gonna be very glad you don't have any boys. This morning actually was going pretty well. I was feeling somewhat better, had managed to get the girls off to school without too much trouble (read yelling), had eaten my breakfast without severe throat discomfort, taken a shower, got dressed (even put on makeup today!), and was talking to my mom on the phone while switching the laundry. For those of you unfamiliar with my house, the laundry room is right smack in the center of the second floor of our house across from Harrison's bedroom. There is an electrical outlet on the wall across from the door of the laundry room where we have an LED night light that I just leave plugged in all the time, as it shuts off in the daytime hours. So Harrison was "helping" me switch the laundry and then he walked out of the laundry room and literally a second later, he yells "look mommy, fire" and starts flipping out!! I start looking for fire and don't see anything. Then the smoke alarm starts beeping and I get panicked and pretty much hang up on my poor mom who was already worrying about my dad. Harrison is pointing at the night light which I then notice is tilted off the wall. So, I flick it out of the outlet and the whole outlet and back of the night light is BLACK. So I panic even more and call Jack who doesn't answer his cell phone (big shock there) so I quickly debate calling 911 and I do. The dispatcher was awesome and sent the fire trucks out to check out my wall. (I have visions of fire in the walls by now) Harrison is crying and holding his ears and when he sees the fire trucks, the first thing he says is "why isn't the fire truck red?" (Lansing has those nasty yellowy-green shade of fire trucks.) They come in the house and Cooper starts barking wildly and bouncing around adding to the chaos. (I should add here that one of the firemen is a Harrison's teacher's husband/Jacqueline's friend's dad - yes, we live in a very small town) I show the fireman the outlet and he wants to see the breaker box. I take him to the dungeon - ah, basement - and show him the box. He finds the breaker and lucky me (or Harrison should I say) it is a GFCI breaker so it tripped extra-fast thus not letting my house burn down from the inside out. (I highly recommend using a good electrician when wiring a new house - it obviously saved mine.) After inspecting everything including inside the wall behind the outlet, it's decided that there is no fire in the wall and the only damage done is to the outlet, night light, and breaker (and my nerves). While this is going on, Harrison tells my friend, who has arrived in the middle of all the "fun" with her 3 year old son to go apple picking, "I put a penny in there." So she tells me and we tell the firemen (there are now 3 and 2 trucks - Lansing spares no expense!) They take a good look at the night light and the pattern of blackness on it and figure the kid is telling the truth and that it would make sense. We can't however find the "penny" which he has told us he put on the dryer. Reminder - I was in this tiny laundry room thru all of this. When all is said and done I am told everything is ok but I need a new outlet, new breaker, and a new night light (and perhaps a stiff drink at this point - it's noon somewhere, right?) After they leave, I am still puzzled about the penny thing and think maybe Harrison means under the dryer - sometime he gets confused -he is 3 you know. So I leave him downstairs under close watch of my friend, and fish under the dryer and sure enough, there I find what use to be a nickel. It is scorched black and half melted where it hit the prongs of the night light!!!!!!! He was telling the truth!!!! I am just very happy that he did not get hurt and that my house did not really catch fire. We had a little 3 year old chat about coins and outlets and I am going to be replugging all my outlets with those safety plugs again - obviously my judgement about removing them was not really good. I think I have finally stopped shaking and having visions of raging fire in my walls. I'll be saving the nickel, the nightlight and the outlet in Harrison's baby book!!!
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