Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Confessing (before my daughter tattles)

I did pull out our one safety gate when Christopher started scooting. You would think I might have gone ahead and ordered one for the upstairs and possibly two more to keep Christopher from climbing up the stairs as well. Or, I might just have been in denial about my baby growing up. NO MORE.

Christopher has hyped up to super-speed. Before I know what hit me, he'll have opened a cabinet and pulled out something heavy onto his foot or something fragile onto the ceramic tile. Or pulled additional glass ornaments off the tree. Or have climbed three stairs. I went to our PX yesterday looking for safety stuff. They had NOTHING in stock. The only thing that they ever stock, though, are outlet covers. Seriously. 110 outlet covers. In Europe. Yes, we have a few 110 outlets in each room, but we mostly have 220. AND, I already have outlet covers. I did manage to find a couple of cabinet locks left over from Ashlyn, though.

Then, this morning, I had everyone ready to get Ashlyn to Kindergarten. I put Christopher on the floor in his room and turned around to pick up a few things. Then, I hear Ashlyn SCREAMING, "MOMMY, MOMMY, CHRISTOPHER!" I run around the corner to see Christopher rolling(that sounds better than falling, right?) down the stairs. He only went down about 5 steps before I got to him. It was still very scary. As I picked him up, Ashlyn was crying into her hands. She needed more comfort than he did from the ordeal. Then, as she went into her classroom, she tattled on me to each of her three teachers.

Baby gates-ordered.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, no!

The Capozzoli Clan said...

I give you credit for putting this out there....I can remember when Paulie was about Christopher's age I put him in the backpack - strapped him in of course - and then put him on the coffee table to go and get something. All of sudden I hear screaming....loud screaming...crying and run back in. Paulie has fallen off the table and is hanging upside down in the backpack (thanks to the straps) between the chair and side table. Thank goodness he did not hit the floor, but did I feel terrible. So now my poor mothering story is out there like yours. Needless to say, if I had to use the backpack Paulie would wait on the floor until we were ready to go. Hope all is better today for everyone.

The Matthaidess' said...

Tate has started scooting as well. Of course, it's at a snail's pace. I'm not really looking forward to the day when we have to put up gates everywhere. Fortunately, we have time (I think).

Oh, I loved your Salzburg blog posting. It looks like you guys had fun there. Ed and I really enjoyed it when we visited a few years ago.

Merry Christmas! And take care...

Kellie

sara said...

Oh my goodness! How scary for you guys! Glad everyone's OK!

Katie said...

Oh man. I feel bad for all of you...poor Ashlyn crying as well!

I think this has happened to all of us...Becca cartwheeled down the stairs about a year ago. I felt horrible....thank god they are resilient!

Laura said...

Bo fell down many flights of stairs and he turned out ok. Or at least I think he did. :)

Anonymous said...

I love the title of this post. Glad all is well. Good thing you're super fast :)

Thanks for sharing.

What is your opinion on when you stop with needing a gate? I freak out still with Wilson but he is getting much better going up and down now. I no longer hold his hand or stand by him. I do, however, watch his every move up and down like a hawk.

I am asking b/c Chris wants me to leave the gate open, but I'm not so sure... He isn't even 2! Besides, it is just me here. How the hell will I know what he is getting into in the basement when I am upstairs and he is down. At least with him isolated to one floor I can hear if he is into something, or hurt...

Sorry, I kinda went on my own little stairs rant.

House Dad said...

If they don't fall every now and then, they're not normal kids.

We still have gates at the top and the bottom of our stairs and Campbell is over two. But the gates are almost as much now about keeping them out of stuff as it is safety.

Angie said...

Jamie,

I stopped using a gate when Ashlyn could get up and down pretty easily. I don't remember if I stopped using it while we were still in Alaska, but I definitely didn't have one up when we got here. So, we didn't have a gate at 21 months.

However, then I had to start chaining the front door. She could get down the stairs and right out the front door. She did this once while I was still asleep and once while I was in the shower. I went OUTSIDE to rescue her once with tiny pajamas and the other with a towel, while 5 months pregnant. Nice. By the way, Ranger was the one who alerted me to the situation both times. He is good for something.