Ouchie!

For the last couple weeks, the girls have been increasingly determined to be mobile, and that’s a good thing — except when it leads to mishaps like we had this morning after breakfast. They’re not quite crawling yet, but they’re very close! They get up on their hands and knees and then sorta rock back and forth like contestants at the top of a ski jump.

Anyway, I had just finished feeding the girls and as usual, Elizabeth was trying very hard to scoot off the edge of the sofa. Carolyn, on the other hand, is usually less aggressive in her efforts, and more content to just lie on the sofa next to my leg after finishing her meal. Usually. So there I was, grappling with Elizabeth’s legs on my right side as I once again hauled her top half back up onto the sofa, when all of a sudden there was a distressing plop and scream from the left side. (It was as if they had agreed in advance to coordinate their efforts — “You distract him, and I’ll make my escape!”) Carolyn timed it perfectly and went all the way over the edge. Now, if she had simply landed on the carpet about one foot away, this probably wouldn’t be worthy of a blog post. But no, sweet little Carolyn launched her sweet little face right at a sharp and unfriendly corner of stone at the edge of the fireplace! OH NO!

Ouchie!

I know this sort of thing is inevitable, of course, but that knowledge doesn’t keep me from feeling horrible nonetheless. The good news is that the scrape is very shallow, and as I gently dabbed at it with a damp tissue there was hardly any blood (less than a drop). I’m sure it will heal just fine in a week or so. But still, right now there’s this glaring testimony to my less-than-perfect parental oversight right there on my little girl’s face! [sigh] She only cried for a few minutes as I held her, and then she started smiling and wanted to play again.

I suppose the moral of the story is that there will be no more playtime on the sofa after meals for a while — not until they can safely dismount by themselves (or respond to instructions to stay put). In fact, this will be tested very shortly; I can hear them kicking their cribs in the other room, signaling that they’re ready for lunch! Wish me luck.

She's a trooper!