Natalie's Close Calls

Bear with me. This is long.

I have positively no clue what to do with my sweet little girl. She's had a rough time lately. She started out resenting the baby, but now loves him. She wants to hold him all the time, and I'm actually seeing a nurturing side of her rising up from her overall tomboyish ways. (Hard not to be a tomboy with a big brother and a mom that's sort of a tomboy as well).

The rough spell she's had is all physical. Where should I begin? I don't know which day it was, but it was in the past week or two. Natalie was the kid to have the First Injury of the Season: a scraped knee. She did quite the job on that injury, let me tell you. After a couple days of band-aids, she was finally able to go bare-kneed again...only to scrape the same exact knee the next day. Back to the band-aids again. She's also scuffed the other knee twice just today alone. The poor dear takes after her mother in the grace department.

Well, then Friday rolls around. Natalie was opening and closing the drawers of the dresser in the guest room. She does this frequently and it bugs me to no end. I get on her all the time about this. Friday was no different. I just left the guest room (where Alie and Joanne were) after telling Alie for the 50th time to stop when I heard this horrible crash and Joanne scream. I tore in there to find that Natalie had pulled the dresser down on top of her. (Talk about freak out). Thank GOD there was a bed in front of the dresser...it fell mainly on the bed, but Alie was still pinned by the bottom drawers. We pulled everything off of her, and were amazed that her only injury was a small bump on her cheek from where one of the drawers hit her before hitting the bed. It could have been so much worse, and it makes me sick to think about it. None of our other dressers have a bed in front of them, so I feel so blessed that this is the one she came across. I have every intention to go and buy brackets to mount every dresser to our walls. We always skpped this safety feature in the past because I never thought that one of my kids would do something that 'other kids' do...that somehow my parenting skills far surpassed those parents whose kids do that kind of stuff.

As if that weren't bad enough, that same Friday, Andrew dumped half of a HUGE thing of baby powder on Alie's head. Yes, it was kind of funny looking, but my first thought when looking into Nathan's room was that there was a fire. (Powder everywhere looks just like smoke). Already on edge from earlier in the day, I freaked. Thankfully it was just baby powder, but I was SO MAD because that could have gotten in her lungs and caused some serious problems. Thankfully she was fine, but she still smells like vanilla jasmine baby powder after three shampooings and three days.

And it gets worse. Like my nerves can handle it, right?

Yesterday was the worst. Each Sunday, we have been attending Financial Peace University through our church. We use another church's building, and childcare is provided through our church. I have had a good impression of Joy, the main childcare provider, even if she is a little young (20 years old). She's always seemed responsible, and I've recommended her to other friends. Anywho...there is a playground outside the church building, and that's where the kids play with supervision while we have class.

There is no fence around the playground, and it is set back about 50 yards from a fairly busy street. (East Main St...next door to Center Middle School). Are you getting a sinking feeling yet? Yes, this is going where you think it's going. Well, during class we watch a video, then go to a different room upstairs to have our small group discussion. While going upstairs, I peeked out the window to watch my kids play. They enjoy themselves there, and it's always fun to see your kids at play. Well, I finally find my two kids out by the street. Alie was closest to the street...say maybe FIFTEEN FEET from the road, and walking straight towards it. I yell out the window at Joy (who is sitting and chatting with the other childcare worker on the swings...completely oblivious to the fact that my two year old is walking straight towards the street). Another man in our group was yelling at her too from another window about it. She couldn't really figure out what was going on, but she knew we were upset about something over by the road. Did she get up? NO!

Mike literally dropped everything in his hands...books, drink, and diaper bag and tore down the stairs and out the building. I have never in my life seen the man move so fast. He got to Alie who had literally 4 STEPS until she was in the road.

I realize mistakes happen, but I was so angry and sickened by the fact that my daughter could have been seriously hurt or killed, especially when it was because of a lack of supervision. When Joy realized what was going on, all she said was "oh, well I told them twice to stay closer to the playground." I am done referring her.

I don't think my nerves can handle anymore close calls. I had the hardest time trying to fall asleep last night, just wondering what would have happened if I hadn't looked out the window right when I did. All the 'what ifs' kept me awake. For the second time in just a few days, I sat by Natalie's bed while she slept, stroking her baby powder smelling hair, and simply thanking God for her safety and for the chance to have another day with her. I talked to my friend Amanda about it today, and asked her, "What if I hadn't looked out there when I did?"

She said, "But you did...you were meant to."