Sunday, December 17, 2006

When will it end? NEVER

When my son was a baby he would army crawl over to the light sockets and attempt to poke things in. He figured out all the plug protectors except the most secure ones that are of course the hardest for a parent to get into when needed. He had extrememly good dexterity so he would pick through the carpet and find an assortment of dangerous thing to stick in his mouth. In the middle of winter in Idaho at 5 or 6 months he pushed open the sliding glass door and crawled out on the step. I had thoughts of tumbling off and cracking the head open or freezing to death. When we went to another house or motel, he would scan the room and go immediately to the most dangerous thing in the room. At 18 months old he pushed a chair form the dining room to the sink, crawled up, and got a huge sharp knife out of the bottom of the sink. Then he came toddling in with the sharp edge against his neck. At 3 he almost fell between a boat and the dock (my husband caught his ankle and pulled him back up. He also managed to get the top off a "child proof" medication bottle and we got the unique priveledge of administering epecac. I thought..... if I could just get him to age 5 he might live.....
Then came the broken arms from falling out of trees and off the jungle gym at school, a concussion from a fast stop on a school bus, and riding a BMX bike into a log and flying 20 feet through the air and landing in a fallen tree at camp. And I thought..... if I can just get him to the teen years maybe he would live.....
Now he is a teen and I read that it is important to not squelch a boys need for danger, as long as it wasn't too dangerous. So when I saw him jumping out of the tree onto the trampoline, I tried to control my fearful heart. It was obvious he was being careful to be in the center of the tramp. The next day he bent the tramp in half when he was jumping out of the tree onto the tramp! So I thought..... it was a good lesson and maybe he will now live...
Last summer he got his permit!!! Its been 6 months and now I know THERE IS NO WAY HE WILL LIVE!!!! :)

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