Wednesday, November 19, 2008

When an Instant Lasts an Eternity

There are moments in parenthood when life abruptly comes to a complete stand-still, and the health, happiness and sometimes even breath of your child seems to pause. I hate these moments. They are unsettling. They are terrifying. Thankfully, they are rare.

We had one of these moments yesterday evening. Bill and I make consciencious and educated decisions designed to keep our kids safe, and most of the time, we do a pretty good job. So when random acts occur that threaten the safety of our kids, I find the lack of foresight and control extremely nerve wracking.

The kids and I were all around the kitchen table. Brady was sitting on a chair doing his letter 'P' homework. I was standing at the table folding the boys' bedsheets. Parker's sheets were draped over a chair, and he was rubbing his face in the warm fabric making "hmmm" noises at the clean smell. Everything was peaceful. Everything was right.

Without warning Parker pulled too hard or just the right way on his sheets and the large wooden chair came crashing backward, completly flattening him. His head hit the ground, immediately folloewd by the chair back hitting his face. And for a split second (or an eternity!) everything stopped. There was no sound. There was no movement. There was no breath.

And then, the screaming. The little guy got smacked down hard, and the tears lasted quite a while. After a thorough review of his body, I determined he had no scratches, no blood, only a bruising mark on his upper cheek. With lots of hugs, kisses and of course Blue Blankie (thank you Chris Lee!) he settled onto the couch with some juice.

He ate some dinner. He played in the bubble tubby. He jumped naked from his bed, and he laughed when the dinosaur ate Earl Sidebottom's homework during storytime! In essense, he was perfectly fine. I, however, could not say the same. Shaken - and stirred - I said a little extra thanks during Parker's prayers when at last I tucked him in tight.

With this, I wanted to share a few awesome pix of my little jumper from Sea World last month.

Enjoy ~
















No comments: