Last night, we all slept great.
The night before, however, is a different story. I woke up around 4am and was laying in bed trying to fall back asleep. I heard Ronan stirring in bed, not fully awake but not sleeping either. I turned on the video monitor so I could see what he was up to.
I watched as he tossed and turned. He constantly rearranged the blankets and tried to get comfortable. He sat up and laid down, then sat up again. He drank some water.
Then he did the strangest thing. He stood up and pulled the blankets all the way over his head, like a ghost. And then he just stood there. For minutes. I was entirely perplexed and couldn’t figure out if this was awake behavior or sleeping. I watched as he stumbled forward and caught himself on the side of the crib. I thought to myself, “that was close. Could have been bad!”
He stood there for another minute, and then he started jumping.
JUMPING.
I watched as if in slow motion as he pitched forward and had no idea where he was falling. I watched as he failed to catch himself a second time. I watched as his head smashed into the railing with a resounding thud.
I was up before the first scream came out. I snapped off the monitor (Brock was still sleeping) and ran out of the room. I heard the first painful cry as I was just steps away from the door and knew… the longer the break between the injury and the scream, the worse it was going to be.
Brock yelled after me, “What’s going on?” I called back, “He fell and hurt himself.”
I got into the room and my sobbing boy was still under the covers. He was crying so hard he wouldn’t let me pick him up. He wrung his hands and screamed over and over. I couldn’t see a welt or a knot and had no idea where he was hurt. He finally let me pick him up just as Brock came into the room. He immediately put his arms out for his dad, and then back for me again. In pain, he didn’t know what to do or what he wanted.
We walked downstairs talking calmly, trying to work him down. He, still crying, demanded to be put down and then became very upset when his feet hit the floor. I poured him a cup of milk and he drank it between gasps and sniffles. The worst of the storm was over… but we were all wide awake.
I turned on “Dispicable Me,” our new favorite movie, and we sat as a family on the couch. By 7am, we were all ready to go back to bed. As I went to bring Ronan back to his room, I finally noticed the welt… right between the eyes.
No wonder it hurt so badly.
My poor kid. It was an awful start to the day, and I hope he’s learned a little lesson. No more jumping in bed! Especially with a blanket over your head!
Anyway. Today we are headed up to Mooresville for Christmas with the family… so there may or may not be a Christmas Day post. As it is… Merry Christmas Eve!
