Careless little monkey...

As many of you know, Addie is a very active child. She loves to run, climb and do things she shouldn't. I wouldn't call her completely fearless but she is definitely not always smart about the things she chooses to do. I'm surprised we haven't had stitches or a broken bone (knock on wood) with some of the thing she tries to do.

This last month, I have finally started to feel like Addie is doing well enough on her own to be trusted to play in other rooms by herself or with other kids without an adult watching all the time. I know we can't protect them forever, but because of how careless she can be, the thought of something serious happening to her when I'm not right there is always looming in the back of my mind. A few events from the past week, while minor, have really made me nervous about letting her out of my sight!

One night last week, she had run into our room to get Clay so we could say prayers and put her to bed. She was climbing on our bed and fell and hit her chin on the foot board. I was not in the room but Clay told me that she did her breath holding cry and passed out before her body reset and she started crying. Thank goodness it was Clay in the room and not me. I get so scared whenever she does that and I don't react well.

Once morning last week, she was watching a show and was climbing on her little chair (something we warn her all the time about). I was doing something in the kitchen when I heard a thud and looked over to see her on the floor with her head against the wall and her chair tipped over. She was quite upset- especially for just hitting the back of her head on the wall. About 15 min. later, she started developing a big red mark and a bump on her forehead. Turns out she didn't just hit her head on the wall but her chair must have hit her in the forehead as well.

On Sunday night, we were at my grandparents house watching the Superbowl. Addie was running around playing with the other kids. She went into the next room where I couldn't see her anymore and apparently climbed up on the recliner and somehow fell off the side. All I saw was her fall and she landed right on her head and neck. I rushed over to her as she sat up a little and was crying.

She continued to cry so hard and wasn't getting any oxygen in. Her little eyes looked so scared and lost. I, of course was freaking out because I thought maybe she was going to have a seizure or had done something to her neck. Thank goodness Clay was there to take over for me. He picked her up and held her for a few seconds (although it seemed like forever) and thankfully, her body reset and she started breathing and crying again. Both Addie and I were a little shook up afterwards but we managed to pull ourselves together. Of course, I watched her like a hawk the rest of the night.

Then, today she was playing in her crib for a few minutes. I was hanging something up in her closet when she told me to look at her. I looked over and she had her hands and face up above the front bar of her crib and her legs and feet up on the back bar of her crib. I told her that it wasn't a good idea just as something slipped and she smacked her neck and chin on the front bar.

She was very upset and it was obvious it hurt her pretty bad. I managed to keep her from going into her breath holding episode and calmed her down. Once I did that, I was able to check her out and see that she had most likely broken a blood vessel in her neck as she had a big purple spot that had a white swollen area around it and then red around that! Luckily, after a little ice and motrin, it seemed to be almost gone or at least calmed down by the time I put her down for a nap.

You'd think after so many falls and getting hurt so many times that she'd learn to be more aware of boundaries and doing things that just aren't a good idea! Of course, why do that when you can torture your parents with worry!! Unfortunately, I'm sure there are many more adventures like these coming down the road......at least i'll have an excuse for the gray hair!