I brought Caroline along with me to one of my doctor's appointments - not something I normally do, but it was Christmas week so sitters (and the money to pay them) were scarce and I thought it would be a good opportunity to see how she did.  In the waiting room, she was as good as gold and better.  Sweet, quiet and well behaved.  Happy, even.  Which, for an 8:30 am appointment was not a guaranteed thing.  When they called my name, she cheerfully skipped along with me.  Then they asked me to step on the scale.  Caroline broke into tears and was terrified.

I mean, I can relate.  I often want to do the same thing deep down when they ask me to step on the scale, but I thought one of us should show more grit.  But, we made it through that ordeal.  However, back in the exam room when it was time for me to get up on the table she was having none of it.  She wasn't sure why I had to get on the table, but she seemed pretty certain that it was an absolutely terrible idea.  She expressed this view by throwing a fit.  Just as I was reaching into my bag of tricks to see what I could come up with to distract/bribe her the very nice tech produced a <drum-roll> jar of candy!

The tech, named Jill, told Caroline that she could sit on the special chair and hold the jar of candy and decide which one she wanted and when Mommy was all done she would get her treat.

Well.  Crap.

There was no way I was taking that jar away from her at this point.  I probably would have if I had realized that the lid was not secured, but I figured (a)it would cause a total nuclear meltdown if I took it away at this point and (b)no harm could come from her holding a glass jar until I could get off the table and help her choose a safe option.  Unfortunately, it only took her approximately 3 and a half minutes to wrench the lid off the jar at which point I was frantically trying to crane my neck to see what it contained.  Peanut butter cups?  Snickers?  Hard to tell.

Caroline luckily pulled out what looked like a Dum Dum brand sucker.  So, I let her open it and start to work on her candy breakfast.  As we were leaving a few minutes later, I kid you not, three other nurses on our way out tried to offer her additional candy from jars.  Where were they all coming from??  When did Caroline get old enough that people think it's ok to offer her candy?? 

I knew I was totally blowing it.  These were great teachable moments: both for Caroline (this is when you say "Thank you for offering, but I have allergies I need to ask my mom," Caroline) and for the nurses (you really should ask the parent first, you never know when a child has allergies!).  But I succumbed to the easy way out and told everyone that she already had a sucker and that it's just too early for more candy, thanks.

Way to go, mom.

As we got to the car, I realized that Caroline was chewing something...well...chewy.  So, I grabbed the sucker and realized it was really a miniature Tootsie Roll Pop.

Well.  Crap!

Quick: what's in a tootsie roll?  Yeah, I didn't know either.  That's the point, isn't it?  That's why I know not to give her anything without reading a label.  I know that.  I preach it.  I usually practice it.  I blew it.  Luckily, I called my mom from the car and had her do a quick emergency check online for allergen information (a big thank you to the Tootsie Roll people for providing the info online) and happily, they do NOT contain egg or nuts.  You're out of luck if your kiddo is allergic to dairy or soy, though.

So, I got lucky.  And it was a good reminder that good practices are only good when you practice them every time.  And, I'm also going to start carrying safe candy in my purse to pull out the next time we run into this situation.