J-Si’s Blog: It was bound to happen…
J-Si’s Blog: It was bound to happen…

I have heard it from most parents: “I thought I had killed my kid.” There’s Big Al’s famous story of the time he tried to jump over his son, and the crotch from his pants caught his head and slammed him down. Not good. My parents have a few stories involving me like swinging me around by my ankles, I was having a blast, and I ended up hitting my head on a pole. It’s bound to happen… right? No. I was determined to make sure I did not have such a moment with my kids. That streak has now ended. At least I made it to 2016… four solid years.

jsi-blog-pic-010616Cason, Chloe, and I were in the backyard. We have a lil swing set and the kids love it! Chloe still uses the toddler one and we keep it pretty chill, but Cason is now 4, so he thinks he is a grownup. He wants to ride the “big boy swing”, which is just a regular swing. He’s learning to kick his legs, and tuck, for optimal height and speed. However, sometimes he requires a lil help to get going, especially if I am giving Chloe a push on her toddler swing. So there we are, Cason asked me to give him a push, so I did. He is the more cautious one of my kids. So I never worry when he is doing this sort of potentially bone breaking activities that are normal for kids, because he always knows when to let go of the throttle. He started laughing super hard yelling, “higher papa!” I remember that feeling as a kid. You think you are about to touch the sky (when in all actuality you are only about 4-5 feet off the ground).

I tell him to hold on tight, and keep giving him some pushes. He is beyond excited. Loving every single moment. We have done this basically every day for the last few months. Then on the last push of the day, as he is moving away from me after a generous push, with the most joyous laughter, I watched my son launch off of the swing. Straight up in the air, did a flip, and landed on what appeared to be his knees and face, he didn’t even brace, arms were at his side, butt up in the air. He looked like a polar bear sliding down a snowy hill.

Chloe said “uh oh!” I stood there in silence. Kinsey stood there with wide eyes. Cason… he just laid there, silent. Everything was slow motion. In my head I was thinking… “Oh no! Please cry! Please move!” My body finally moved and I ran towards him, just as he started crying. Best sound ever. He pushed himself up, I asked if he was ok, and he nodded, but he had a mouth full of grass and dirt. I don’t know why, but it made me laugh, which made him cry laugh, as I held him. He started spitting all that out. I asked if he was awake the whole time, he said “yes”. So that’s good. I asked if he felt loopy or funny. He said “no”. That’s good. I asked what hurt, and he responded with “my feelings.” Awwww…

So there it is, I had my first “could have gone extremely wrong, but ended up ok, no thanks to me” moment with one of my kids.