Guardian angels are working overtime
Phillip is at precisely the same age that Caleb was when my cousin asked me what I did all day as a stay at home mom.
“I try to keep Caleb from killing himself,” was my reply.
For about a year and a half, little toddler boys are just mobile enough to unlatch, unlock and unplug everything, but not smart enough to figure out which of those things might kill them.
The day began on the wrong foot when I forgot to close the bathroom door. I had left the toilet seat down, which usually means that Phillip is safe, but today I discovered he had figured out how to lift the lid when I heard the porcelin clink, followed by the sound of splashing water.
Later we went to Wal-Mart and lost Phillip twice. Both times, he was two aisles over pulling things off the bottom shelf.
As I was cooking supper, I turned around just in time to see Phillip turn on the broiler for the toaster oven, with three of his plastic toys inside.
The topper to the day came after we had spent the afternoon in our new swimming pool in our backyard. We had bought a little inflatable pool at Wal-Mart, shallow enough for Phillip to walk around in it but big enough that all 5 of us can sit in it at the same time. We played in it for about an hour, and all of us had long since come inside and changed our clothes when Lannie happened to look outside as he walked past the back door. Phillip had opened AND closed the sliding glass door (which had been closed but unlocked) and was standing fully clothed in the swimming pool!! I lost about 5 years of my life running through all the “what if” nightmare scenarios.
Lannie and I now realize we must be sure to LOCK (not just close) all the outside doors. Still, not even that is enough to keep him out of every potentially fatal household accident. Lannie said that all of these antecdotes piled into one day make us sound like horribly inattentive parents. People, these things happened with two experienced parents and two eagle-eyed older siblings in the house!
My mom told me this evening that she and my dad pray for Phillip every night that he will be safe and stay out of danger. I think his guardian angels are working overtime.
Filed under: Uncategorized on May 28th, 2007
Hey…I totally get that. I remember E ‘escaping’ from our front door and walking down a flight of stairs at our condo. He was also lost at the Botanical Gardens. This was all in one weekend when he was about 20 months old — one where my mom, 2 aunts, and grandparents were all around. You would think with that many adults we could keep track of him. BUT…
Yeah, Phillip is 20 months old exactly. It’s a scary time!