The last few days of Bryan's break have been slow and wonderful. A much needed rejuvenation for all of us, including the kids. Spending every day with their daddy has been a special treat, and I'm sad to see the end is here already. When Bryan isn't writing a paper or waxing up some teeth, we are wandering around the toy section of various stores, letting our kids let loose a bit. We spent time looking at all of the lizards, birds, turtles, hamsters, and fish at the pet store while Daddy was getting a haircut. The four of us hang out together having tickle fights and playing hide and seek. There's no doubt about it: we love having Daddy home with us.
The only blemish in our great week, was actually a pretty horrible and traumatizing thing for me. And little Alex of course. I was making dinner Thursday night when I heard, "thump, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, thump, BAM! silence." Within a 3 or 4 second time frame, my heart stopped, I pieced together, "The stairs. The door to the stairs is open. That was Alex falling," and I flew through the room and around the corner to see my poor baby boy looking up from the second to the bottom stair, and his daddy (who had flown just ahead of me), scooping him up just as Alex began to scream and sob. I cried too, as we looked him over for any damage. He, thank God, is just fine.
He was shaken up of course, but other than a big goose egg on his head, he was okay. In fact, the little tumbler was running around and laughing less than half an hour after the fall. I, on the other hand, was a wreck all night. I laid in bed for a few hours after everyone else fell asleep, with horrible imaginary images of my little boy falling. Scariest moment of my parenting life, by far. And you better believe, I will never forget to check that door. Ever again.
The bump doesn't show up that well in the pictures, but it was big and sad. It's all gone now, though. Just a tiny bruise left. Poor baby. I have this immense relief that it was nothing worse, and I hold him a little bit tighter now. Which, I'm happy to say, he doesn't mind.
