My Little Bruiser

Having grown up with two younger brothers, I'm well aware of a little boy's ability to get injured in even the safest of locations. Back in the 1980's, before the lucrative baby-proofing business exploded, my brothers each ended up in the emergency room at least a handful of times. Usually requiring stitches, their injuries were caused mostly by glass coffee tables and fireplace hearths. In fact, our family room probably contained more sharp angles than a geometry textbook. Children of my generation weren't enclosed in plastic, bubble-wrapped bubbles like today's youth. We got hurt, and our parents dealt with the consequences.

Perhaps it's a form of celestial "payback," then, that Daniel is such a little daredevil. He has no fear of anything, especially if it involves climbing. As an infant, he remained blissfully injury-free (except for those awful self-inflicted facial scratches, but that was hardly my fault -- his nails were very difficult to file!). Now that he's walking (running), however, he suffers a minor injury at least twice a day. I'll hear him wailing from another room in the house and I'll know that one of three occurences has taken place: A. He dove headfirst into the wooden coffee table. B. He toppled off of the fireplace hearth while trying to step down. or C. His cozy coupe or some other riding toy capsized on top of him. Thankfully, these have all been minor injuries -- no blood, just some bruising. They have all occurred within the scrutiny-free confines of our home, where no one can accuse me of skimping on the babyproofing.

Today, during playgroup at Kim's house, Daniel decided to push the limits of safety in an unfamiliar environment. He spent about 20 minutes standing on a wooden child-sized chair, attempting to climb even higher onto the armrest. Minutes after I talked him down from that ledge, he started running around like his pants were on fire. Of course he tripped and fell, banging his mouth on the coffee table. I picked him up and comforted him while he cried tears of pain and surprise ("Who put that darn table there?"), and realized that his gums were bleeding a little bit. His first bloody injury! It felt like a significant milestone. The bleeding stopped quickly and Daniel was fine, but it seemed like we had entered a new phase of boyhood. It's just a matter of time before my invincible little boy gets knocked down to size -- again and again.