Day 2 of Mr. Accident Prone

After Saturday’s disastrous trip to the pool, we decided to stay dry on Sunday. It was a beautiful day out, but we needed a little time before we tackled the pool again. So instead we headed to a movie. Confinement to theater chairs seemed a whole lot safer than day 2 of swimming in the deep end.

After the movie the kids wanted to go to a park so we headed to a nearby playground. Caleb was climbing up these bar things (technical term). I’m not really sure what the purpose of these bar things are. It’s two bars running parallel to each other and they go up at an angle. It’s hard to explain. It would just be so much easier if this story involved the slide or the swings. Everybody knows what a slide and swings look like. Not too many understand weird bars that serve no real purpose. But here’s a visual. This is Caleb climbing up those stupid bars.

Right after I took this picture Caleb sat down at the top of the bars and said, “Watch me mom.” Then he slid down them like they were a slide. But these bars didn’t go all the way to the ground. No these bars had an abrupt drop off. And Caleb had his legs wrapped around the bars because, well they’re bars and that’s what we do when we’re sitting on bars. So his journey down the bars looked something like this…

He landed face first in to the wood chips. His legs flung back behind him, bending his back in a violent way it should not be bent. He ended up in a heap at the base of the bars looking remarkably like a contortionist. I did what I do best in situations like this. I panicked.

I reached down to pick him up and then I though, “What if he has a back injury? You’re not supposed to move somebody with a back injury? Or is that a head injury? Oh my God. What if he has a head injury. Call 9-1-1.”

Thankfully Lee was there. He always stays so calm when the kids fall, choke, drown, etc. I don’t know how he does it. He scooped Caleb up and checked his back for signs of trauma. Then I sat down the bench, laid Caleb’s head in my lap, and rubbed his back. Daddy’s for assessing the damage. Mommy’s for snuggling.

Within minutes Caleb was fine. He leaped off my lap and was running around the playground like nothing had happened. I wish I was half that resilient.

Caleb has been to the ER more times than any of the other kids…combined. He’s definitely the one that’s going to give me a heart attack some day.