it was a hot summer Saturday…temperatures reached a balmy 100 degrees and a simple trek to the shore turned into a sand storm brought on by a toddler tornado
debris flying everywhere…don’t look up, cover your eyes, hide your towels no one is safe. And then IT happened…what you ask?.?.? The toddler got sand in her eyes. She wandered around the beach blanket screaming, unable to open her eyes, trying to feel her way to mommy [me] who leapt into action with a dry towel untouched by sand, baby powder, a water bottle and a few swift breaths of air. First I attacked it head on with the cotton sheath and when I was unsuccessful my first thought was to grab the baby powder to clear the sand from areas surrounding the eyes didn’t want anymore to fly in. As the toddler kicked and screamed and swatted and tried to rub her eyes – it was if she had 8 arms – I grabbed the eye lids trying to pry them open in order to use my few good breaths to hopefully clear the debris….tot wasn’t having it and screamed louder. So then came the wrap up tight football hold. Leaned the 2 yr old, with the strength of two Army Rangers, over and pulled out the cool water bottle to flush the eye. She thrashed, kicked harder and screamed louder but I knew I had to do my best to clear all the sand. Once complete I held her in my arms as she whined and whimpered wanting to rub her eyes. I tried to stop her but she fought hard sooooo finally I decided to wrap her sandy hands with a wet sensitive baby wipe I figured it was sand-free, cool and gentle….she rubbed away and seemed to be at ease.
Keeping an eye out we realized we weren’t in the clear yet as the eye began to swell. I tried to once again go into battle with the tot in an attempt to put a cold compress on the swelling eye{unsuccessful}. The next day toddler awoke to an eye that was almost swollen shut. 
…that’s when we knew it was time to call in the professional
Off to urgent care we went [which I must say with this adventurous toddler we were quite surprised we had never been before] The staff at Chop Urgent Care was beyond friendly and their new facility is wonderful, made our little one, who is anti-medical offices, shockingly pleasant. After checking her out to make sure there wasn’t any sand trapped inside the lid or damage to the cornea {using dye and a fancy black light} 
she was sent home with a few antibiotics just in case because sand can be gross.
We are happy it wasn’t anything serious. We are happy to have a healthy toddler in good spirits. We now know what can happen when a toddler sand storm hits hard.
Happy to report that 2 days after, her eye is looking much better, swelling has gone down drastically and while she does have some scabs on the upper and lower lids we are pleased with how quickly it’s healing.
Rickettedly Awesome 