Near misses

If you have children, you know that life is a series of near misses.  Almost cracked your head open?  Great!  So glad you didn't.  I can't tell you how many times during the day I'll hear a "thunk" and close my eyes waiting to hear what follows.  Silence is the best case scenario, that means no one is severely hurt.  Of course, when my kids get older and smarter, silence may mean a cover-up is in place, but for now, I appreciate that their limbs are in tact.

Jackson is generally on the other end of the "thunks" and the cries in this house, and thank the Lord for 2-year-old honestly.  "What's happened to Jackson?" I ask and Brady is quick to turn himself in.  He'll tell me that he tackled Jackson or something of the sort.  Its often followed by, "I gave him a ball and he's not sad," and then we have a talk about how balls don't cure past transgressions, a concept Brady struggles to grasp.

Sometimes dangers come about when you least suspect them, which is frustrating for parents that work so hard to avoid obvious dangers.  I experienced last week when I was walking out of our house with the two kids.  As we were walking out the door to the garage, Brady bounded out the door first as the garage door was opening.  With Jackson in my arms, I turned to close the door to the house and when I turned back around, I was terrified to see my child holding on to the bottom rung of the garage as it rose.  I saw my child elevating, a sight that would be comical if not for that fact that it was frightening.  Brady's pretty strong, and I'm not sure how long he would have held on, but I'm glad I had only turned for a brief moment, so I could yell to Brady to let go, which thankfully, he did.

Much progress has been made in the way of garage doors to make sure they don't crush children, but I'm not sure they account for kids who want to take a joy ride up.  That, of course, is my child.

Tonight, my children are sleeping safely in their beds.  We will see what tomorrow holds.