Dexter is doing more and more dangerous things. I try not to be overbearing. There are some things he just has to learn not to do by himself, like closing the door on his fingers. He's pinched himself a few times, but learned the hard way not to do something. He's learned ot pull doors shut by the knob and not by the edge of the door. Now he's climbing everything. Not that it's anything new, he's just more capable of getting into trouble.
It's amazing how fast things go from cute to chaos in .2 seconds flat. I was looking at a magazine standing not more than 6 inches from the little babbling monkey when he decided to climb up the back of the dining room chair. Next thing I know, he was was on the floor, the whole chair on top of him. He was, of course, stunned. I could see his little face was right under one of the wooden slats on the back of the chair. I lifted the chair in time for his big scream he'd been sucking in air for over the past few seconds.
Poor guy! I didn't know if it was serious or not. The chair is a little heavy, so I was running through all the worst case scenarios of broken ribs, internal bleeding, missing teeth, etc. He cried hard. The crying he only does when he's really hurt himself and it doesn't stop for while. When it did finally stop, that's when the blood appeared. He has a knack for keeping the blood under wraps until my initial shock is over. This time it was his eye. Just under his eyebrow, on the outside of his eye was a cut. It's the type of cut boxers get when somebody hits them hard on the outside of the eye. The next day it was puffy and bruised. He totally looked like he had been in a fight.
He did it again a few days later, but luckily this time the chair didn't make contact. He's still doing crazy stunts like running circles on the bed, standing on his lion, climbing on top of the coffee table, going off the arm of the couch, climbing onto the back of the couch, and climbing onto the nightstand. At the playground, he's conquering slides, rope bridges, and ladders. He's just going to be THAT kid. You know, the one on top of the jungle gym you just know is going to fall.
Even though he tears up the playground, he met his match when we took him to the mall last Saturday. He met his arch-enemy, Santa Claus. We had to stand in line and Dexter does not wait in lines. He immediately wanted out of his stroller. his dad and I took turns herding him around the general area of Santa. He couldn't sit still at all. I could see Santa sizing up the kids in line. That newborn will be easy, the 4 year old girl will be the highlight of the next hour, oh man that little boy in the green shirt is gonna scream!
When it was out turn, Dad took Dexter over to meet Santa. Dexter shied away and practically tried to climb inside his dad's shoulder. Santa patted Dex on the back and Dexter just looked away from Santa. Dad put Dexter on Santa's lap and Dexter cried and cried. We got a couple pics to commemorate the look of terror on Dexter's face. I can understand. I mean handing him over to a strange man sitting on a big chair, dressed in a weird outfit - if it wasn't a holiday tradition, I'd be scared too!
