Babies Don't Bounce - Or Do They?

You know how they say bad things happen in threes? And you know how I said the other day that it was time to move the crib mattress down to the lowest position? Well little Mr. T finally did it. I was playing downstairs with M this morning when I heard a really loud thump. At first I assumed it was E banging into the wall as he played in his room. But then M told me he heard T crying (his hearing in far more sensitive than mine - it's amazing really). I already knew what had happened when I walked into T's room - he had fallen (jumped?) out of his crib. I have no idea how he landed, he was lying on his stomach, and he wasn't even crying all that hard. I picked him up and he stopped crying immediately. I didn't know what to do. He didn't even seem hurt, but how could he not be having fallen four feet to the floor (thank goodness it was carpeted)? I spent the rest of the day watching him for changes in behavior or unnatural sleepiness - and he displayed neither. Could I have gotten lucky a third time - could he actually be uninjured after another very bad fall? What is my problem? Am I the absolute worst mother in the world? Is T the most accident prone baby in the world? How am I going to survive his toddler-hood - how is he? We had a hard time getting him to bed tonight - he screamed whenever we put him in his crib and we didn't know if it was because of separation anxiety, because he wasn't tired, because he was scared of his crib after falling out of it, or because he was starting to show signs of a head injury. This is just the perfect example of what I hate most about parenting - the total and complete uncertainty about whether your judgement is good enough to help you make the right decision - because if it's not, your child could die. No pressure or anything. So, as I type, my baby is asleep in his crib - but I'll spend the entire night worrying about whether his brain in hemorrhaging and whether he will be able to wake up in the morning.

Despite all of that excitement, I had a pretty productive day. I got a couple more cupboards in the kitchen cleaned out, cleaned out the refrigerator, and made some really good chicken soup. E got interested in helping me as I was cleaning out cupboards, and it turned out that he is a really good helper. He follows directions very well and was able to sort the "stuff" into the various piles (donate, throw away, or pack). He has a sweet little happy attitude and he would intersperced his questions ("which pile Mommy?") with "I like you Mommy." I missed his company when M got home and E left me in the dust to go onto to better things - like playing cars with his brother. Too bad for me, but at least I didn't have to worry about him drinking the Ajax anymore (he is only 3 after all and I don't trust my kids not to kill themselves anymore).

As for the chicken soup I made - it really does make you feel better when you have a cold. I think I overdid it this weekend and was rewarded with a really good cold. I felt pretty crummy this afternoon and decided to throw last nights leftovers into a soup pot with some chicken stock. It was good! The best part? Chris actually thought I had made dinner - apparently he didn't recognize it from last night. He he he.

Updated later: T woke up just fine this morning - I think we got lucky again.