Okay, a little background, my kids know-know they're not to go down the basement stairs. It was that way at our house in Indiana, and it's that way here. Both places, painted wooden stairs lead to a concrete floor. I'm afraid if they're wearing shoes, they won't be able to judge where their foot is and mis-step. If they're wearing socks or slippers, I'm afraid they'll just slip. If they absolutely have to go down the stairs, I prefer that they go barefoot so they'll have a better grip and feel. Anyway, they know they're not to go down the stairs, it's just storage and laundry- nothing for them. I always keep the basement door shut and locked with a chain- they know how to un-do it, of course, but I hope it'll be enough of a visual deterrent that they just won't bother ( yeah, right.).
Yesterday, I put in a movie, tucked Crash and Princess in on the couch with blankets and pillows and set cups of water on the table- all my bases covered, and went to take a shower. They were totally engrossed in the movie. I figured that'd buy me a good ten minutes. Wrong. I came out of the bathroom and Crash is on the couch looking guilty and just not... well. He looked at me very seriously and said, "Mommy, I did something bad". I said, "What did you do?" He scrunched up his face and whimpered like he knew it was so bad that when he told me, I'd come unglued. I said, "Crash, tell me, what did you do?" He didn't answer, so I gave up and went to finish getting ready. When I came out and looked at him, he said, "I'm ready to tell you now. I fell down the stairs and hit my head." Then, he squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the explosion. WHAT?! (Dear God, give me patience). I went over and said, "where? show me." He pointed to the side of his head, right above his ear. His ear was bright red, but there wasn't a bump. I checked his pupils, 'cause that's what my dad always did and it made me feel better to do something. His pupils reacted normally, but his eyes just looked really sleepy and his lids were at half-mast. It freaked me out a bit. I went and got him an ice pack for his head while biting my tongue. I knew if I got mad, he'd clam up and I wouldn't get any more information out of him.
I said, "were you at the top, or were you partway down the stairs when you fell?" He said, "I was halfway down." I said, " Did you land on your arm, your leg... what part of your body hit?" He said, "I landed on my head".
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had to go pick up Goober from school just then, so I had them get up to get their shoes and coats on. Crash stood up and said, "whoa, I'm dizzy!". Fabulous.
After we got Goober, I had to go to the bank. I looked back in my rearview mirror to check on him and he'd fallen asleep. I said, "CRASH!" and reached back and shook his leg and he just turned a little. We were on a country road, so I hit my brakes hard. He jerked forward, woke up, gave me a dirty look, stuck his fingers in his mouth. When we got to the bank, though, he was back to normal, pressing his face agains the window to make pig faces at the teller and make Princess laugh.
He seemed okay by evening- a little more subdued than normal, but okay.
This morning, I was downstairs doing laundry ( after SPECIFICALLY telling them to stay upstairs). After I started the dryer, I turned around and there was Crash standing there with his fingers in his mouth, just watching me. I gasped ( he scared the daylights out of me) and he laughed and said, "Mommy, you're silly". I was about to really let him have it when it occurred to me that I might be able to get some more information out of him. I walked him to the stairs and casually said, "so, where were you yesterday when you fell?" He walked up to about the sixth step and said, "here". Okay, not soo bad. I said, "and how did you fall? Did you slip? Did you miss a step?" He said, "well, I got here and thought the next step was the bottom because..."
WAIT FOR IT....
"I COULDN'T SEE WITH THE BLANKET ON MY HEAD".
Oh. My. Word. Seriously!!!! All I could say at that point was, "oh." Thinking about it, though, the blanket and his ear probably kept him from cracking his head open- though neither he nor the blanket should have been anywhere near the stairs- let alone together. *Sigh* The child's determined not to make it to his sixth birthday.
The night before, they were supposed to be getting ready for bed in their room. I kept hearing uncontrollable giggling followed by BOOM followed by more giggling. They were jumping off the top bunk onto my little trampoline using a blanket for a parachute.
I'm letting them keep the trampoline and I'm just going to block it out. If they're determined to break something, I'd rather it be an arm or a leg instead of a head or neck. See? I can compromise... .
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