September 9, 2001 - Sunday
We went down to Uncle Ben and Aunt Lisa's house today and, while climbing the ten or so stairs from the grass up to their back deck Harry fell, rolling down some three or four steps before I was able to catch him. I'm not sure exactly why he fell, although I think I saw the whole episode after whatever misstep he took. It started in something of a slow motion, as he took his first tumble, eventually hitting the back of his head square on the third or so step down from where he started. From there he pretty much rolled over again, down another couple of steps, though not hitting anything very hard. I caught him just before he would have landed again much harder.

Now, on the one hand, I feel pretty good that I caught him like that: daddy coming to the rescue in the nick of time. But, there's no mistaking that I could have, and perhaps should have, been closer and caught him much sooner, before he hit his head. Ultimately, I'm still of the belief that Harry needs to experience things and that, as a young boy, he's going to hurt himself and hopefully learn good lessons from it. As long as that happens without any longer term pain or damage, I think that's probably all we came hope for. So, I suppose this was a good lesson in stairs for Harry, although maybe it was a few more steps and a little more learning than he needed all at once. The most interesting thing was that right after he stopped crying, which admittedly took a few moments, he demanded to go right back up the same stairs. This time he let me help.


Comments, opinions?