Brooke’s First Taste of Outback

My Dad came down for the BYU basketball game and treated us to Outback while he was here. As we sat down at our table, I saw that we had TONS of coasters. I remarked to Dallas that I don’t understand why restaurants find the need to smother tables with coasters. He answered by saying that maybe throughout the day people take the coasters as souvenirs. Souvenirs? Unlikely.

As we were enjoying our cheese fries, Brooke started fussing. I picked her up and sat her on my lap. She was trying to grab everything off of the table. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea. I gave her one of the many coasters to play with. The coaster did the trick. Brooke was very happy holding that while we ate. Maybe that’s why Outback provides so many coasters–they’re toys!

I was busy enjoying my meal when Dallas turned to me and said, “Uh oh. I think she ate it.” I looked down and saw Brooke holding the coaster and one corner had been chewed off. I panicked thinking she was choking and Dallas and I felt around in her mouth for the coaster corner. It wasn’t in her mouth. Brooke was still moving and not turning blue, so she obviously wasn’t choking on it. I concluded that she must have bit the corner off and spit it out onto the floor. However, for the next few minutes Brooke coughed and looked like she was gagging. I couldn’t ever find the corner on the ground and so I started thinking maybe she really did swallow it. That seemed so improbable though. I mean, there was a good sized chunk missing from this coaster!

In the end, we decided to take the coaster as a souvenir. Maybe that’s why there are so many coasters per table–children eat them. Hmmm. Here’s a picture of it:

I was sick just thinking about the possibility of Brooke ingesting that, and how she easily could have choked on it. I can’t believe she bit into the coaster in the first place. It was made out of very stiff cardboard. I wasn’t even thinking that it would disintegrate and break off with enough saliva.

The story continues. The next day I was changing Brooke’s diaper. (You probably know where I’m going with this. For those with weak stomachs, you may want to stop reading now.) I should preface this by saying that Brooke had just started taking an antibiotic for an ear infection and the doctor warned that the medication could give her diarrhea. When I changed her diaper, I noticed it looked a little different than usual. I was about to dismiss it as a side effect from her medicine when a rather large piece of poop caught my eye. Upon closer inspection, I saw that this “poop” was actually the entire corner of the coaster. She indeed swallowed it and she swallowed it whole! I couldn’t believe it. In the name of photo journaling, we took a picture of it. If you are interested in seeing what a piece of an Outback coaster looks like after it has gone through the digestive tract of a baby, Click Here

Gross!