16 months Flashed Before My Eyes

I just started running again. Starting is always the hardest thing, especially when you have a sixteen month old. I have several friends that are willing to watch him but sometimes it doesn't work out. On Wednesday April 7th Patrick got home early enough that we decided to run on the track above the apartment parking garage. We decided it would be good for Andy to get outside. Patrick did an excellent job watching Andy while I ran two miles. They played with the basketball left there. They tried to make baskets and kicked the ball around. Every once in a while Andy would join me running for a few steps. When I was done, it was my turn to play with Andy while Patrick ran. Unfortunately, Andy was done playing on the track and ready to do something else. He handed me the two water cups we had brought, his pull telephone and his tricycle and proceeded to the top of the stairs saying bye and waving. I followed him trying to figure out how to carry him down the stairs or how to leave the tricycle without him noticing to much. Andy normally won't go down stairs without help unless he turns around and crawls down feet first. At that moment I saw my sweet little boy squat down and lean over the edge and start to roll down. The next thing I remember is having his leg in my right hand and him hanging upside down. I then swung him into my other arm so he wouldn't be upside down. I called Patrick over to check him out. Andrew had managed to hit his head on one step and was heading down to the next when I caught him. He only ended up with a few scratches, which may have been more from me pulling him up then from his fall. It could have been so much worse. I am so grateful for reflexes, the tricycle that was in my right hand ended up half way down the steps, which is where Andy probably would have stopped had I missed him. I vaguely remembering screaming and swinging my arm toward Andy dropping the tricycle as my arm swung toward him, it all happened in one motion. I also managed to only drop the tricycle, the cups and pull phone stayed in my left hand and arm.

As I carried him home and Pat finished his run, Andy was screaming and kicking. We got home I gave him some Tylenol, and several halves of Robin's Eggs, which cheered him up. I cleaned his scratches and then cried as I documented the incident on film.

Lessons learned...Andy is much more cautious at the top of any steps now and so am I. I learned not to trust the fact he has always stopped in the past. He is an adventurous boy who wants to do it all by himself. I hope that he will soon learn to walk down steps safely, but until then I hope that he will let me help or carry him down.

Since the incident I have not ran on the track. Instead I have pulled out the jogging stroller that my friend Crystal gave me, I now buckle Andy in it and run around our neighborhood. We have a great time.

The scratches have healed and you can hardly tell they where there. I am so grateful that he didn't get hurt worse.