Pint-Sized Panic
We had a few nights of minor panic around here. Well, it was panic at first, but then it morphed into a milder form of neurotic obsession. See, we've been having problems with our water heater lately. (They're not new problems-- we had them last year too.) Our pilot light was going out constantly. When I got up in the morning inevitably I'd have to light the pilot light again, and before M could even finish her shower, it would be out again (granted, her showers are on the eternal side, but still). I hadn't taken a hot shower in a couple of weeks myself-- fortunately, when you live somewhere as hot as we do 1) the water comes straight out of the pipes lukewarm to begin with and 2) eh, who wants a hot shower anyway when it's 109 outside. But it was really bothering me not to be sure of having hot water to do the dishes and laundry. I was having to relight the pilot three or four times a day at least.
Well, earlier this week we had a day when both Terence and I had blinding headaches at the same time. Now, headaches are nothing new for me; I've been trying to cope with them on a more or less regular basis for years now. However, Terence NEVER gets headaches so that was just highly unusual. In the course of our roundabout discussions about possible headache causes, Terence suggested that since our pilot light was constantly going out, maybe we should install a carbon monoxide detector, just in case. Our water heater is 9 years old now, and probably nearing the end of its life. Who knows what could go wrong? So we bought a plug-in detector and installed it in the hallway near the kids' rooms (they are on the end closest to the garage, where the water heater is). Since they were all curious about it, and since I needed them to refrain from pulling the detector out of the outlet, I explained what it was and why we got it.
Holy moly. My explanation caused a near riot. B worried that the alarm wouldn't wake her up, and we would all die in our sleep. K pleaded pathetically with me to take the detector away. J demanded the package to read, learned all about carbon monoxide poisoning, and proceeded to pass the useful (not) information to his younger siblings about how CO is silent, tasteless, invisible, and makes your head go loopy so it's hard to escape if you do end up with a high concentration of it. That caused some serious weepiness around here. (At least M was totally indifferent. She had bigger things to worry about, like why her Legend of Zelda playlist kept repeating the same songs. Ah, to be nearly 14.)
Anyway, I tried to turn it into a teaching moment, talking about when we are scared or upset, the best thing to do is to pray and talk to Heavenly Father about it. The kids took my advice, and that seemed to help, which was enough to get everyone to sleep. (We had some interesting prayers. K, during family prayers the next night, mentioned that he was thankful that our family hadn't died.) But the next morning there was still a good deal of fretting about it. When I woke the boys up, the very first thing out of J's mouth was a request that we park the van outside so we wouldn't risk getting CO poisoning in the garage. Later that morning, S gave me a long explanation about when we have a fire and the alarm goes off, then we need to open our window and breathe by it. Well, her explanation was a little bit muddled, but clearly her older brothers and sister have been trying to impress on her what she is supposed to do if the CO detector goes off. A constant subject around here.
Last night things had finally settled down. The CO detector has not gone off so they are starting to forget that it is there (I hope). And speaking of settling down, we had two thunderstorms this week and none of the kids panicked, which is a major improvement. Hooray for less hysteria around the home!!
(On an even better note, Terence took my dryer vent cleaning kit and cleaned out around pilot light assembly on the water heater. The pilot light hasn't gone out since. Fingers crossed that it lasts!!!)
Well, earlier this week we had a day when both Terence and I had blinding headaches at the same time. Now, headaches are nothing new for me; I've been trying to cope with them on a more or less regular basis for years now. However, Terence NEVER gets headaches so that was just highly unusual. In the course of our roundabout discussions about possible headache causes, Terence suggested that since our pilot light was constantly going out, maybe we should install a carbon monoxide detector, just in case. Our water heater is 9 years old now, and probably nearing the end of its life. Who knows what could go wrong? So we bought a plug-in detector and installed it in the hallway near the kids' rooms (they are on the end closest to the garage, where the water heater is). Since they were all curious about it, and since I needed them to refrain from pulling the detector out of the outlet, I explained what it was and why we got it.
Holy moly. My explanation caused a near riot. B worried that the alarm wouldn't wake her up, and we would all die in our sleep. K pleaded pathetically with me to take the detector away. J demanded the package to read, learned all about carbon monoxide poisoning, and proceeded to pass the useful (not) information to his younger siblings about how CO is silent, tasteless, invisible, and makes your head go loopy so it's hard to escape if you do end up with a high concentration of it. That caused some serious weepiness around here. (At least M was totally indifferent. She had bigger things to worry about, like why her Legend of Zelda playlist kept repeating the same songs. Ah, to be nearly 14.)
Anyway, I tried to turn it into a teaching moment, talking about when we are scared or upset, the best thing to do is to pray and talk to Heavenly Father about it. The kids took my advice, and that seemed to help, which was enough to get everyone to sleep. (We had some interesting prayers. K, during family prayers the next night, mentioned that he was thankful that our family hadn't died.) But the next morning there was still a good deal of fretting about it. When I woke the boys up, the very first thing out of J's mouth was a request that we park the van outside so we wouldn't risk getting CO poisoning in the garage. Later that morning, S gave me a long explanation about when we have a fire and the alarm goes off, then we need to open our window and breathe by it. Well, her explanation was a little bit muddled, but clearly her older brothers and sister have been trying to impress on her what she is supposed to do if the CO detector goes off. A constant subject around here.
Last night things had finally settled down. The CO detector has not gone off so they are starting to forget that it is there (I hope). And speaking of settling down, we had two thunderstorms this week and none of the kids panicked, which is a major improvement. Hooray for less hysteria around the home!!
(On an even better note, Terence took my dryer vent cleaning kit and cleaned out around pilot light assembly on the water heater. The pilot light hasn't gone out since. Fingers crossed that it lasts!!!)
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