Most often, the time between dinner and the doodle heading to bed will find the three of us hanging out in the living room. The kiddo will bring us his collection of toys and books and show us all the various delightful things you can do with them (they can be a chew toy! A step stool! A projectile! Well, we're trying to work on all three of those not being valid, actually, but, well, he's 19 months old.) Then he will climb up on the couch and run from one end to the other or sling a leg over the arm and slide off thinking that he's very clever for having figured out this particular dismount. Or we will chase each other around the kitchen island or dance to music.
Last night, Tim had gotten up to get a drink and I was just hanging on the couch watching the kiddo run hither, thither and yon when we had one of those slow motion moments. You know the ones, right? When everything seems to do that funky John Woo slo-mo (without the pigeons) and you find yourself reaching out desperately going "Noooooooooo" but your finger tips just brush whatever it is you're trying to catch. In this case, what I was trying to catch was the toddler as he fell backwards off the couch, taking his piano/xylophone with him.
Now, he has fallen off the couch many a time. It's reasonably low to the ground and honestly, I could spend my whole life trying to keep him off the couch or I could just accept that he's going to fall off it now and then. I've chosen option B. I have a friend who thinks I'm nuts. Last night I was inclined to agree with her. Because the fall was not the problem, it was the musical "Ka-blam" of the toy whacking into his forehead that was the problem.
I scooped up the baby (who calmed immediately upon this action) while Tim ran for the ice pack and honestly, I think the two of us were more traumatized by the whole thing than the kiddo who spent the next two hours (yes, we kept him up past his bedtime to make sure he was ok...and I snuck into his room several times through the night to stroke his head and neck and make sure he responded) running around as if he didn't have a small, red golf ball sticking out of his forehead.
2 days ago
The slo-mo is actually a "perfect moment in time" according to star trek: insurrection.
ReplyDeleteI remember that...but then that would imply bonking a head is a good thing?
ReplyDeleteOuch! I feel for you. Julian did almost the exact same maneuver when playing with his piano/xylophone thing on the coffee table...fell backwards, pulling it with him, landing with a thunk to the back of the head and a bigger bonk to the forehead. Ooh, but not a golf ball sized bump...that stings!! Give Joshua a hug for me.
ReplyDeleteJesse managed to get his kitchen chair, with booster attached that he was strapped into, to fall sideways last night. All I could see was his head going sideways into Beau's leg and imaging the snap of his little neck breaking.
ReplyDeleteBeau was oblivious to it all despite being mere inches away and getting fallen into.
I was leaping out of my chair on the opposite side of the table and grabbed him and the chair before Beau realized what happened.
Jesse only complained about banging his elbow on the floor.
As someone said in a similar thread over at Llama-central - kids bounce. Doesn't ease the horror of watching the bouncing, though.