When Tristan was about 6 years old he would NEVER sit. He was always on the move. I had to chase my ever growing non-verbal “toddler” every waking moment. Most of the time I felt more like a security guard instead of a mom. Or maybe a life guard on land(not that one really exists). If something looked dangerous he would gravitate towards it. This went on for years…
Sometimes I did not have a clue what to do. One Sunday evening Brian was at church and I was home with the kids. My home became my safe haven where I could keep dangerous behaviors to a minimum (or so I thought). We had a completely fenced in backyard. We had a very nice swing set. Tristan was allowed at this point to go to the back yard by himself. I watched him from the kitchen window while I washed the dishes. Life worked well(safe) at home. Then…
Tristan realized he could climb across the top beam of the swing set. I panicked. I knew I could not climb up there to rescue him. He paused as he gingerly crawled across the beam. I feared he would fall 8 feet to the ground. My mind raced picturing going to the ER and having to explain this situation to a doctor. As I contemplated what to do, I thought maybe I could push the trampoline under the swing set. Then I could stand on it and help him get down. Or if he fell… it would be safer. I tried and failed. The trampoline would not fit completely in that space.
Next, I decided to call my husband and explain the situation. Surely he would have a response. We chatted about the dilemma. I know you are thinking surely by this time he would have crawled across the beam. Nope. I remember him laughing. As I am writing this I remember his laughter from that day. It is like he wanted to see how I was going to solve this problem. Brian said I could call the Fire Department. Really? I mean I have heard stories of calling the Fire Department for a cat stuck in a tree. I have NEVER heard of a mom calling to rescue her daredevil off of a swing set. Can you just imagine the call on the police scanner? We have a child stuck on a playset and he won’t come down. Besides the fact that if Tristan liked the attention he would probably do it again. I could not call the Fire Department. I decided to pretend like his non-compliance to come down didn’t bother me. I did not give him additional attention. Eventually… he came down. There were strict backyard rules after this incident!
We installed an alarm on the back door. That will lead me to another story for a different day.
Enjoy another healthy dose of laughter from our home!
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