The Many Adventures of Henry James

Henry had a couple of accidents in the bathroom lately. That room is seriously his favorite in the house! During bath time, he climbed out of the tub to get a toothbrush or who knows what from the counter. Then he slid/dove back in the tub head first, his customary tub approach when it's full of water. No stepping in for this fella! He's done it this way forever without incident. It's very hard to teach a slippery wet boy who loves the water that he is not invincible. Anyone see The Secret of Roan Inish? Henry reminds me of the little boy Jamie in this film, loving to run around wet and naked!

Anyway, on this particular tub entry he somehow banged his mouth and chipped his front tooth. I was actually not around during the whole episode, Daddy was doing bed and bath while icky sick mommy was sleeping. I was quite sad in the morning when I heard the whole story. No more perfect little smile til he gets his permanent tooth! [Matt wants me to mention the Star Wars connection: he has a chipped front tooth, too (even though it's not the same side as Henry's)]



The other adventure was getting the potty seat insert stuck on his head, or neck. That's what I woke up to Thursday. Daddy rushing to get out the door and me very bleary eyed trying to process Henry's crying and running down the hallway with the potty seat around his neck. I must've remembered to grab my glasses before assessing how stuck it was. Mind you Henry has a larger than average head for a 2 year old. Somehow he forced it over but when we tried to pull it off at various angles it would painfully squish his ears or forehead. My brain hadn't fully wakened so this is all very puzzling: crying boy, stuck object, confused mama, Matt handing me a bottle of baby oil...

After a couple of tries I stumbled to the kitchen for a screwdriver to at least take the plastic ring-part off to allow for a better grip. This helped a little. (Though Henry started crying a bit louder when I first approached his head with a pointed tool!) After several other angles and twists and yelps from Henry, I finally figured out that I needed to tip the seat at an angle while alternately folding his ears down so the pressure was mainly on his scalp. Once I got to that position my only option was to pull really hard, which wasn't pleasant for either of us. But it came off and I hugged and rubbed and kissed his poor little head. Sadly no pictures, as interesting as they would've been!



One last adventure was Henry ending up in the middle of the street in front of our house. That was a heart stopping moment. Thankfully it was the middle of the day so not very much traffic. The kids were playing outside while I stepped in for a moment, I can't even remember what it was for, checking on the baby probably. I always have my eyes and ears cocked to what they're doing of course. The yard is fenced, but it can be scaled without trouble. I noticed some deer were wandering through and went outside to shoo them off in case they bit or kicked or something. In that one minute that Evalyn ran toward the house to tell me about the deer, Henry must have climbed the fence to chase them or something. As I came out and didn't see him at first, I called and looked in the obvious places, even over the fence in the adjacent field. Then I panicked and I ran around the house to see him walking in the middle of the street crying like he was lost! Oh that was terrifying. Of course he wasn't hurt but just the thought that he was in such danger made me feel like a very bad mommy. They are so fast! I feel embarrassed even posting this, but needless to say it's made us that much more attentive.