The Lost Fable of Aesop

I wanted to get the kids their yearly wellness check ups before the end of the year and our nice new deductibles had to be met, so I took Rach and Sam to the Doctor yesterday, and Emmy had her 2 week check up today (insert $20 copay for each visit). I swear, I have been to the Doctor SOO much recently what with me having to go every week for the last 7 weeks, all of the kids going, and whatnot, I feel like I should have my own parking spot.

Using one of Joey's infamous lines, let me take a step back here and tell you an interesting story that ultimately has a wonderful moral. It's one of those stories that should have been an Aesop Fable, but it was left out for some reason. Why, we will never know.

Please keep in mind that I was scheduled to be induced with little Emmy on 12.4.08 @ 6:00AM.

The afternoon before I was to HAVE A BABY, I got a call from Rachel's school. The teacher on the other end of the phone said, "Mrs. Corley, we have tried, but I just don't think that we're going to be able to get it out. We don't want to lose it!"

Okay. I was thinking that I had been prank called at this point. I had NO idea what this crazy person was talking about, and I think that she realized this as soon as she finished her sentence. "Oh!" she said. "I'm sorry. Rachel has somehow gotten lead stuck inside of her ear. You need to come pick her up."

"Sigh"

I was at Wal-Mart, nesting (Extremely BAD idea, by the way). I now had to drive from across town to pick up Rachel from school and then drive to the other side of town to the Doctor's office. When I asked Rachel how on earth she had gotten lead in her ear, she said that she didn't know. Logically, lead does not jump off the end of your pencil and land inside of your ear, but stranger things have happened, I imagine. I gave Rachel from the time I hung up with her to the time that I picked her up to figure out how this could have happened. Yes, I was terribly irritated.

When I arrived at school, the "magic" lead had now become a staple!

Yes, I just said "staple"! Rachel apparently had stuck a staple in her ear to scratch it.

When we got to the Doctor's office, they all asked her why she would do something like that, and she told them that her ear itched.

The nurse got out her cave goggles (glasses with the light on the top of it), and with one try, she was able to remove the staple from the inside of my daughter's ear!

Ready for Aesop's "Lost" Fable?

Never stick anything in your ear but your elbow!

This should go without saying, but apparently, we should be telling our children this. Parents, please let your kids know that this is now one of the rules of life if it wasn't already.

Rachel will never forget the day that she stuck a staple in her ear.

So, yes. I have been to the Doctor SOO many times recently, for several different reasons. I am really ready to just take a break from the Doctor's office for a bit.

Ya hear me?!