Swim drill guaranteed to make you swim fast

And how much do you hate yourself afterwards?

This week I took my eye off my 16 month-old "for just a second", but it was long enough for her to climb a few stairs then tumble down. Luckily the stairs have a good soft runner. She was startled, but fine. We still took her to the hospital to get checked out just in case, though.

I think every parent has moments like that - those "I just looked away for a moment!" times when the toddler a) grabs the cord of your hot curling iron and burns her hand (a.k.a. my daughter) or b) topples down the stairs of the back deck and hits her head on the concrete patio (also my daughter) or c) climbs on top of my desk like it's nothing (a.k.a. my son).  It happens to all of us - I think toddlers come with some sort of innate "self-destruct" wiring and you spend several months just trying to keep them from killing themselves. Be thankful that everything is okay in the end, and spend the next three days getting your heart rate down.....

Glad it turned out ok.

We all have one of these. Mine was with the changing table and our youngest. She was maybe 8 months old. I put put on, but didn't tighten the seat belt contraption (yes it was necessary. This was 6 years ago and she still hasn't stopped moving). I then turned for "just a second" to grab a diaper from the stack in the basket on the other side of the room. I then heard her yell and when I turned around she was dangling by her left foot which had caught in the restraining belt. Her head was about 16 inches above the floor.

I never did tell my wife. Wonder if she'll read this thread....

Glad the chitlin' is just fine. As others have said, most parents have this moment. Mine goes something like this:

I own an old pick-up truck and a hilly driveway.

My boy liked to pretend to drive the truck.

Left boy in truck in driveway (for just a second).

Truck has old-style "pull handle" parking brake and manual transmission.

Dad set the brake, but truck was in neutral.

Boy figures out how to release parking brake

Dad turns around too late to affect what was to follow....

Truck rolls down driveway toward the culvert.

Truck jumps the retaining wall at the side of driveway that spans the culvert.

Truck bounces up the other side of the culvert, just missing the mailbox and comes to rest in the middle of the street.

Dad runs to truck, opens door, sees no boy on seat where Dad left him. Dad finds boy on floor on passenger side, dazed, surprised, but unhurt.

Dad gets in, get's truck back in driveway, boy out, parking brake set, and block of wood wedged under the front tire.

Dad takes boy in house, hoping to heck that no one saw this.

Wife comes home later and says, "so, you got something to tell me????!!!"

Dad confesses (and good move, 'cuz one of the neighbors DID see and reported same back to wife).

OMG...glad to hear child is ok!  Have had these moments from the other perspective...I was the self destructive toddler...by the time I was 4 I had been to the emergency room several times and stiches on both the front and back of my head.  I got the rep as an accident prone child.  Coffee tables not my friend...both "stitches" situations were caused by rounded corners on coffee tables...I pulled TV's off of shelves...toppled off of tables, chairs, counter tops...

My nephew once found a razor in a bathroom drawer at my mothers (his grandmothers)and put it in his mouth...I caught it before he bit down to hard...he did break the skin a little...but nothing bad...and it was a new razor so no biggy...

1. Place child in jogging stroller.

2. Set brake on jogging stroller.

3. Turn around and lock front door.

4. Turn back to stroller as the front wheel goes off the first of an eight step front stairway.

I caught the stroller in time, but made sure to properly adjust that e-brake, as well as never trust it again.

Yikes man! That's very scary stuff.  I have a 14mo old daughter too.  My stomach churned and I got nauseous today when she fell on the pool deck.  But don't worry, she caught herself... with her face.  Poor little babe has a scraped up chin/lip/nose. 

Good thing toddlers are tough and have short memories!

~B

I am all for hearing good endings.  My son is 18months and I have been blessed to not have a heart stopping experience yet.  Oh wait;  son could not crawl yet and I laid him on the bed to go to the bathroom.  Heard a splat and found him on the floor.  Seems his wiggly was faster than I thought.  Did not tell wife, until she told me he feel off the bed under her watch.  we both laughed and thanked God.

I am so glad that she is okay. As a Paramedic, the call that continues to rip my heart out is the child drowning calls we respond to each year. Usually averages 1 to 2 a year. I have had to leave duty and go pick my son up at day care, and just hold him, after going on calls like that.

Now my "bad parent story." I was sitting in the den ( scanning BT threads) while my son was in the dinning room / breakfast nook of the house. I hear a scraping noise on the hard wood floor. I go to investigate and find him sitting there scraping a steak knife back and forth across the floor. Knowing that if I ran towards him he would get up and run with the knife, i nonshallantly (SP?) acted as if I was walking past him, leaned down and snatched the knife away. Boy was he mad!!! ( but uncut).  I had no idea he could open the silverware droor, much less reach in and pull someting out.