If you have kids, I'm sure you have encountered Geomags, or any other incarnation of them. Alan got some for his 3rd birthday but David is the one who's obsessed with them. He plays with them all day long, really, all day. He drags them back and forth and here and there. He makes grape bunches, complicated weapons (he's a boy, okay?), rocket ships, and what not.
(Although, nothing quite as elaborate as this. Yet.)
The magnets are super strong and fun - yesterday David found out that the bathtub is magnetic and there went another hour of entertainment. The only caveat is, of course, that they are actually quite dangerous. Because they are so strong, they are a real danger when swallowed. If you swallow one, it isn't such a big deal, but swallow two or more and they can obstruct bowels in a bad way.
So, Doug has always been very strict about not having the magnets around when Jacob is near, as he still counts for the baby. Dire warnings have been issued, right down to the explanation that we live in an area of the world where emergency surgery isn't such a great idea, and that there is a real danger of death if you swallow two or more of the stick bits. Okay, so we didn't really emphasize the "two or more" very much - it never does to give kids too much information.
The thing is... Jacob doesn't put things in his mouth anymore. But Alan does.
So today, as I got Jacob ready for bed, I hear this howling from downstairs. Howling and shrieking and I'm thinking, they are fighting again. Wait until I get a hold of those little buggers... and the little buggers rushed up the stairs, howling and crying, and stormed into the room and Alan screamed, "I'm gonna die!".
They were in total panic mode. I've never seen the two of them so upset, white-faced, and scared. Um, now that I think about it, they were red in their faces from all the crying and screaming. Anyway, I took me a moment to get out of them what had happened. Alan had swallowed one of the magnets, but one of the ball ones, not the stick ones. So, no biggie. That piece of news was more difficult to convey than you might think. In the end, David yelled, "Alan is not going to die!?", as if only the decibels made it real.
I explained the whole digestion thing to them, and then Alan went off to poop. All pointing out that it might take a day or two didn't really help. He pooped. I looked and declared the poop magnet-free. They are not aware of the fact that I'm only interested in whether the ball eventually makes it out, not in actually retrieving it.
Life with boys. Always interesting.
Btw, now they are not looking forward to their Dad coming home from work. Because, Daddy's always been adamant about not taking the magnets into the mouth, and things will have to be explained...
[Update. It seems not to be as harmless as I hoped it would be. If he passes the ball, OK. But it seems to be a real possibility that he might not pass the stupid ball, because the darn thing is so heavy it might just stay put somewhere. We'll be on poop watch for the next days. Lucky us.]
We have a small set of Geomags. They are quite addictive! (to play with, not to eat!)
Posted by: Christine | February 05, 2008 at 06:28 PM
Aren't they, though? I've always liked them - they teach science, and creativity, and logic... what's not to like?
Even now, as Doug wants to get rid of them, I hesitate. Because I like them.
Posted by: claudia | February 05, 2008 at 06:54 PM
The package our first set came in had this amazing picture of a full blown bridge made out of them... but there is no way I have the patience (or amount of them...) to make that. They are very fun though, I like the real spinning tops you can make!
Posted by: Ange | February 06, 2008 at 12:42 AM