The gate was left open overnight and my husband forgot to close it this morning when he came downstairs first (and kindly let me take a nice, long shower-the relaxing effects of which were soon to be vanished). I was washing the dishes when I noticed that the gate was swinging open out of the corner of my eye. Just as I thought that I should go over and close it before the baby crawled by, I saw that he was actually on the top of the stairs, leaning over. I screamed and bolted over, scooping him up seconds before he toppled. I have never been so scared of anything in my entire life. I'm pretty sure I aged about 10 years in that moment.
Then.
The babe was crawling all over the kitchen, reveling in his new ability to go under and through the bar stools. At one point, he was lying on the ground playing with a piece of dirt he found in the corner under the island. Only it wasn't a piece of dirt. It was a shard of glass that I missed when cleaning up the millions of tiny pieces that shattered all over the floor when I knocked over a teeny vase last night as I was making chamomile tea (no, the irony is not lost). Again, my supermom reflexes kicked in and I grabbed the glass out of his hand as it was on its way to his mouth. You can imagine how much he loved that.
Why does it seem like my baby has some sort of sonar for the most dangerous thing in the room? He's like a pain-seeking missile. When can I expect him to grow out of this behavior? 30-40 years?
Oh, just you wait, mama!
Thank goodness for fast mommy reflexes. He's just going thru a stage and exploring. My son still gets himself into all kinds of crazy things and he's four. Maybe it's a boy thing?
ReplyDeleteyou must have had a bad scared. Glad the baby is ok :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely think it's a boy thing, Mary! Maybe he's got a little surge of testosterone running through him now. At least he's still a sweet little maniac.
ReplyDeleteOMG how scary! My son has had a few scares just like that which made me almost have a heart attack. He's almost 3 now and I still have those episodes. Glad your little one didn't get hurt! :)
ReplyDeleteMy youngest is one and has this incredible ability to find everything that can hurt her and instantly rush towards it. Glass, pools, street. You name it, I am saving her from it. I thought it was only a boy thing until she came along but nope! They all love to give us heart attacks!
ReplyDeleteI totally understand what you are feeling. My son actually DID fall down the stairs when he was little - crawled right over the first step and then rolled to the bottom one step at a time. We have a hard tile floor at the bottom of our stairs and I could not get to him in time to stop him hitting it. Luckily, he had his head lifted when he hit the bottom, and he was okay, but like you I think I aged very quickly in that moment.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that we'll ever stop worrying, or ever stop feeling a visceral pain every time they hurt in any way. That's the burden of motherhood. I suppose it's made up for by the hugs and kisses and moment of sheer pride in our kids.
I'm a new follower from the Voiceboks GFC hop!
Thanks, ladies! Reading these comments definitely makes me feel better, or at least not alone!
ReplyDeleteAy, Cookie's mama, seems like that'll be a great story for him to tell someday. Quick thinker lifting his head like that.
I'm starting to realize that this whole motherhood deal comes with a lifetime worrying guarantee. All told, not a terrible trade off considering what comes in return.