Monday, July 27, 2009

Affirmation

Today during Sadie's post afternoon nap snack:

"What are you doing, mama?"
(emphasis on "you" - that's how she asks this question)

"I'm putting these dishes into the dishwasher so they'll get clean."

(she watches me for a few seconds)

"What a good mommy you are, mama."

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

sounds of summer

aaaahhh....

I got to drift off to sleep to the sounds of crickets last night! Of course, I had to concentrate a little to drown out the sounds of my neighbors yelling and swearing, but I managed. It almost makes up for being woken up by second-hand smoke 3 times a night. Almost.

Where was I? Oh, right. Crickets. That sound - you know it - is a sound I link to childhood summers. Days when I was in my swimsuit all day long and my hair never quite dried before I jumped in the pool again. Playing Sharks & Minnows and Marco Polo. My mom teaching me all kinds of dives off the diving board (half gainers, backflips, 1-and-a-half flips, etc.) Laying on a towel on the warm cement listening to Cyndi Lauper, Tears for Fears and the Outfield on my pink Sony radio. Nights when my parents let us swim at my grandparents house after dinner, when it was dark out. I used to absolutely love night swimming. I can almost feel my pruney fingers and toes and the soft burn of chlorine in my eyes. When we were done, my siblings and I would line up at my grandparents' kitchen door and my Grandma would bring a big, warm, fluffy towel straight from the dryer to wrap each of us up. I remember her teaching me how to scoop ice cream (she worked at a soda fountain as a girl). I remember sitting on my Grandpa's lap on their rusty old outdoor rocking chair with the peeling paint - a hint of Jack Daniels' on his breath and the softest hands of any man I've ever known to this very day.

Aaaaah. Crickets. That droning, repetetive, chirp-buzz that somehow sounds like a perfect mix of nature and music and brings such sweet memories to my mind. I don't know where the crickets came from, but they put a smile on my face, and I hope they stick around.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

The Big Bang

Well, one of my most dreaded "Mom Moments" has happened. Sort of. I say "sort of" because it ended up being okay even though it was awful.

Last Friday, Andrew was home working (yes - he had to work the entire holiday weekend) so I took Sadie to the park with my friend and her son. For the first time, I decided to let Sadie climb up the tall play structure to the slide without me hovering over/near/under her. Can you guess what happened next? Yeah. Kaboom.

She fell. She fell about 6 and a half feet onto sand and that packed rubber stuff they use at playgrounds now (thank God.) She somehow twisted or flipped over in midair and landed mostly on her back. I ran to her, totally panicked. Do I move her? Do we call 911? What if she broke something? Which hospital is closest?

The incident is still mostly a blur in my mind - somewhere between that freaky slow motion when something bad is happening that you can't control and those jarring, jerky, nightmarish images that still make my stomach churn on recall.

My friend called 911 who dispatched a ladder truck and a fire rescue truck, so there was quite the fanfare for the other kids at the park. The extent of her injuries were getting the wind knocked out of her and biting her tongue pretty severely in 2 places. She was significantly scared, but wasn't hysterical, which is pretty amazing. She cried pretty hard for a few minutes but then just sat in my lap sort of whimpering. There was a mom who is also an MD in the crowd at the park, so she came over and introduced herself and checked Sadie out, which was really nice and helped me start to calm down.

At some point I called Andrew and he raced over to be with us. He was undoubtedly reliving his brother's fall some 30 years ago which was particularly traumatic for all involved. We were lucky enough not to need an ambulance, a trip to the ER for stitches or worse. It was actually relatively easy for me to keep this accident in perspective because a friend of mine's daughter just recently had a much, much worse fall which ended up in a helicopter ride to the county hospital.

I am immensely thankful that my friend was there to deal with calling for help. Thank you, KLo. I am grateful to the kind doctor/mom who came to our aid. But mostly I'm just thankful to the "powers that be" for getting us through our first injury emergency.

Sadie is most thankful for the popsicles she got to eat for the next few days


(doesn't look like much, but trust me - those were deep cuts. Ow.)

and for the new toy that a very nice fire medic woman gave to her as they were all leaving.
Meet Pearl the Panda:

One step forward in terms of parenting notches on my belt (I guess) but about three steps back for me in terms of me letting her climb on anything by herself for a while. Sigh.