Lesson Learned

Here is what I learned yesterday: Just because something goes ok the first time doesn't necessarily guarantee the same outcome the second time. Here's what happened... As our last warm fall days come to a close I decided to squeeze in one more bike ride to the park. I loaded the kids in the bike trailer and off we went. Grant really liked the slides at Tanners and gravitated towards them at the park near our house. Now there are three sets of slides on the same playground set...small, medium and steep! I don't even let Elizabeth do the big dog! Both kids had done the little one and were getting kind of board. Grant being the monkey he is, easily climbed to the next level where you access the two bigger slides. Elizabeth went down the medium one first and was waiting at the bottom. She says, "I will catch Grant! I will catch Grant!" Grant really wants to go down the slide. There is do way I can leave him at the top (there is an opening off the backside that if he backed away from the slide could fall off of) and there is no way I can be at the bottom too. I have seen Elizabeth do the slide, it isn't that fast and she is going to catch him at the bottom. Now, I know what you are thinking, "Alison, shouldn't your lesson learned be: Don't let your 3 year old catch your one year old at the bottom of the slide?" Well, no because that part went well. He went sooo slow that he actually stopped half way down. Oh so much fun! Let's do it again!! Same drill, Elizabeth does first and then waits for Grant at the bottom. Well, he gets a little more momentum this time, but makes it down OK. He is sitting at the bottom of the slide, but he loses his balance and falls off. Face plants right into the mulch. I run around to pick up my baby and find mulch stuck ALL over his face. As soon as I hold him he stops crying, so I know he was just scared, not really hurt. In the bike trailer I have a package of kleenex and a bottle of water, and those were a last minute grab! Thank goodness. I was at least able to get the dirt and mulch off. His lip did have a small cut on it and as the day progressed his face started to show little scabs and rashes from the mulch. When I sent him the down the slide was I thinking to myself, "this really isn't a good idea", YES of course I was, but he is a kid and wants to go down the slide! In hindsight, all in all it was a horrible idea, and I knew it at the time, but still did it. What is wrong with me?! Kind of like taking my three year old through a haunted house. I mean really Alison, come on!! Well every kids needs their "how my mother screwed me up story right?" Well my kids each have one now. Maybe I can try a little harder to not add to this list!