Friday Free Falling

Fridays always throw me for a loop. So! I'm coming up with a new Friday tradition. Every Friday I will post about a "fall", a mishap, an accident, boo-boo, oops, foot-in-the-mouth, broken bone or fallen hero, and the subsequent band-aid, if anything. It'll be fun. Or, if not, will at least make you feel like a better person.

FF: This morning, my husband accompanied me to the babies music class I teach at a nearby kid's music&movement gym. That way, he could watch and manage punkin' head, whose predilection to wander has been drifting steadily higher. I introduced him to everyone as my toddlers' "manager." It was great. We made it through the whole class, and had reached the free play portion, where my little guy had made his way to the top of the slide. Dad was close by, I was far. Before my very eyes, and those of everyone's around us, another little toddler started UP the slide as my little one started DOWN. A Mom gave the "watch out before they--" signal to my husband, but! Too late. CLUNK. Heads bonked, Moms groaned, Dad mitigates the crying.

After the groans and laughter had subsided, I announced, "his manager is FIRED!" I gave him an 'F'.

Fast forward! To the afternoon playgroup. I'm in a heated conversation about preschool choices. My toddler is making his way up the stairs, where I retrieve him, bring him back to the other toddlers playing with trains, and resume. Repeat, repeat, repeat. As I'm making a crucial point in my must-tell story, on the cusp of the punch line, I see the captive Moms' collective expression change. Time stops. In slow motion, I see one Mom raise her hand and eyebrows to gesture behind me. I turn, in slow motion, and see the tail end of my toddler's tumbling, head over tail down the last two steps.

Scramble, scoop, soothe, sway, shhhh.

Mitigate. (He was fine.) The worst part was coming home to tell my husband, who gave me a D-.