So anywhoo....Gavin is doing great walking. He's investigating every corner of this huge gym. Walking and walking and walking. Watch him in action...
He even had a surprise visit from Miss Janna, his teacher, who was seeing another student in the building!
Sara and I were cheering him on - with her clapping and me walking backward with my camera and my "Woo Hoo's."
After a while, he started to tucker out. We pulled out our secret weapon...the portable DVD player with his favorite "Little Einstein" movie and he got a second wind and followed the show around for a little while longer.
He even attracted the attention of a very nice man who was practicing his juggling nearby. He knelt down and talked to Gavin and started juggling for him...and Gavin stood right up! Check it out...
Gavin was desperate to get down a hallway where the elevator was. We continued to steer him away so he could walk all around the gym...but then we decided to let him try. One of our goals is to get him to steer on his own. So when he walked his walker to the dead end of a brick wall and stood there...we let him stand there. All he had to do was back up a little and turn left to get down that hallway. So we stood there staring at him - silently praying that he'd take those small little steps backwards. A group of older men and women walked by towards the elevator and looked at us quizzically. I'm sure they must have been wondering why two adults weren't helping this poor little boy in a walker who was staring at a brick wall.
And then...the unthinkable. As we stood there staring at Gavin while others were staring at us - he started to fall. In slooooooooowwwwwww motion. We didn't see it coming - but as he went down it killed me to see fear on his face. And then...THUD. The back of his head hit the floor. All the people that were standing and staring gasped and yelled out. Gavin is usually very tough so as I quickly scooped him up I confidently pronounced to our assembled audience "He's fine...he's okay!" And just then Gavin buried his head in my neck and burst into tears - even grabbing his head for extra drama. I felt just terrible.
He was fine very quickly...but I'm sure the crowd walked away looking on their phones for the number for Child Protective Services. Sara and I wanted to tell them - "We're trying to get him to learn how to steer!" And I have relived that moment a thousand times since. Mommy guilt is such a pain in the butt.
I'll be taking a writing hiatus until Monday. I'm going to focus my attention on my husband. Together we'll prepare our hearts for Monday which will be day one of our next adventure. We're coming up on our eighth year of marriage. Boy, have we had a LOT of adventures together.
No comments:
Post a Comment