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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Baby Proofing

Gus took quite the digger this week, and it was TRAUMATIZING… for his mom that is. He seemed to have forgotten the incident entirely after about fifteen minutes had passed.

Ugh, he is just freaking insane, he’s so fast, pulls himself up on everything. He is not happy unless he is standing, and he prefers that whatever he is holding on to while standing be super tippy and dangerous. When we’re in the basement we have to block the stairs with baskets and toys so he can’t climb them. Because he can climb them like a champ, like seriously he’ll do the whole set of stairs in a matter of minutes, but he doesn’t realize that we would prefer not to be standing behind him all day long as he climbs them.

So we block them, and he does everything within his abilities to plow through our carefully constructed barricade. He gets himself wedged between the wall and the toy basket. He climbs ON TOP of one of those plastic stand-up toy table things to get to the stairs. This kid is seriously crazed.

He has this little yellow piano on which he feels it is necessary to perch precariously while digging in a big plastic bin of train stuff. Or he’ll stand on it like it’s a surf board as he’s pulling himself up on the couch.

Crazed I tell you.

Anyway, so the traumatizing incident…

It was around 12:30 on Monday afternoon, Gus and I had just had lunch and I decided to put in the Glee soundtrack and have a little dance party. He had loved watching Glee with me earlier, dancing up a storm being super adorable, so I thought, what a perfect antidote for the dreary, rainy, boring day we were having. DANCE PARTY! He was playing on the floor by the dining room table, messing with the rug, doing his thing, literally a yard away from me. I opened the disk drive on my laptop and all of a sudden, “BOOM! CRASH!” and then there was the horrible screaming. I look over and he’s underneath the dining room chair. I pick it up off of him and scoop him up and there is just blood everywhere, streaming out of his mouth. And he’s just screaming and it’s just the most horrible screaming I’ve ever heard. I FREAKED OUT. I will not lie. My baby was bleeding. The first thing I thought was, “What do I do, who do I call?”

Then I realized that I would have to be the mom here and handle it myself. I put a wet towel on his mouth and eventually it stopped bleeding, and his screams turned to whimpering, and my panic turned to sobbing and apologizing to my sweet little boy.

His upper lip started to swell, to the size of a grape, and to combat the swelling I got the bright idea to put a bag of frozen corn on it.

Bad idea.

That just made him angry, he’s swatting at me, furious, and somehow I lost my grip on the bag of corn and it went flying, and there was frozen corn all over the living room. Awesome.

Anyway, we’re pretty sure he bit his lip, there are a bunch of cuts on both the inside and outside of his top lip. The swelling has since gone down, but it hasn’t been an easy couple of days. That first day it would start bleeding again every time he stuck a toy in his mouth, or when he chewed on the edge of the pack-n-play, or when he rammed his face into his dad’s arm. Dan gave him dinner that night, and he’d throw a fit with every other piece of food he put in his mouth. Oh, and he’s got a big egg-shaped bump on his forehead where the chair must have hit him.

My poor baby.

And it is SO my fault. I knew those dining room chairs are tippy, and yet I let him stand up on them all the time. Ugh. I don’t know how to be more careful, how to watch him more closely. Already I feel like all I’m ever doing is running interference between him and the dog. Or I’m swiping him away from the car seat that he likes to try to climb on and into. Or I’m quickly running to close doors or scoop him up when he’s doing something dangerous. I want him to be able to explore and learn, but I swear it is a non-stop full time job keeping his environment safe for exploring. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to predict what might prove to be a hazard.

So yeah, I think I said this to my mother-in-law the other day, but this whole parenting thing isn’t going to just magically get easier is it? Certain things might get easier, but by then you’re facing yet another new challenge. Funny, baby proofing is the one thing I never ever really stressed about. I remember when we registered that it just seemed so far in the future that I couldn’t even comprehend the necessity. Funny. Ha ha. =(

6 comments:

Betsy said...

Ohhh poor guy! Sounds like quite the tramatic experience for you buddy...that's totally my biggest fear. I would have totally panicked. The one thing I love about apartment living is that there are very few places for Isla to get into. We had been using the pack-n-play to block off the entrance to the dining room/kitchen area and Isla just learned how to move the pack-n-play herself and bust through my clever baracade! They have big gate/fence like things you could use to block off the dining room area entirely and keep him somewhat contained. It is exhausting trying to keep little ones safe!!

Jen said...

Super scary! You handled it quite well. When my son had his first big spill I freaked out at the blood and tried my best with a Boo Boo Bunny ice pack and it was received as well as your corn. Now I've learned that a popsicle keeps him happier and has the same thing. Hope the rest of his recovery goes well.

val said...

He looked great today, no injuries evident... but I feel so bad for you. It's HORRIBLE when they get hurt.

(Okay the corn part is pretty funny though.)

This monkey age... I understand why play pens were so popular once upon a time.

It feels like trying to have a life with a chimpanzee along...mobile, agile, strong, no sense at all.

Honestly, I think this is one of the most labor-intense stages. It definitely gets much easier.

People talk about terrible twos... I actually prefer tantrums to this. Those I can step over and ignore, unlike a baby dangling in danger.

love you so, V

Berbs33 said...

Gotta love having boys!! No the falls, bumps, cuts and bruises don't get any easier but after a while you know exactly how to handle them and make him feel great in no time! I remember the first time Colton fell off the couch, I cried forever and he didn't get hurt. It is so hard to not feel guilty but I think you are right that they have to learn to explore on their own and with exploring means falling and getting hurt! Hang in there, you are super mom and you can do it!

Liz said...

I agree with Mandy. You shouldn't feel too guilty because if he NEVER fell, he'd never learn what's dangerous and what's not. As long as you can prevent the major accidents you shouldn't feel guilty about the little ones. I'm sure it feels worse for you than it does for Gus. Ever since Lincoln's been about 9 months old he's had a permanent "owie" somewhere on his body. Today it's his knee and tomorrow it could be his elbow, but bumps and scrapes are part of life.

We should get our boys together soon for a play date!

Angela said...

Oh buddy, I completely know that feeling -- looking around for someone to help or thinking of who to call and then realizing that it's just you that has to make the right decision. Sucks, but I think that part gets easier at least.

I really liked the corn part of the story.