Well, any of you who know me, know that my little Clark is Evil Knievel in miniature form. Well, this week he took that, well, let's just call it, that sense of adventure to a whole new level. It was like 1:00 in the afternoon & I had been cleaning house and doing things with the kids all morning. We had just finished eating lunch, and Clark fell asleep. I excitedly laid him in his bed to take a nap, put Ni Hao Kai Lan on for Carissa, and took my chance to jump in the shower. I hadn't had time to wash my hair yet for the day. Anyway, I got out of the shower, and I was drying off when the door bell rang. I hurried to get dressed, but by the time I got to the door the person was gone. I stuck my head out to see if they were still near by & then this little kid says, "are you missing a baby?" I said, "what, I don't think so". Then his mom comes around the corner holding Clark!!! I rushed over to grab him, a dozen nightmarish thoughts running through my head. I thanked the woman a million times for bringing him back, but he could have gotten hit by a car or taken. It was terrifying. The woman just kept laughing and saying how kids can be crafty. I didn't think it was that funny, but I was extremely grateful that he was okay. Apparently Clark learned how to unlock the door. I called Rob, who went to the hardware store right after work to go and get those bar-type locks that go way up at the top of the door. We learned how well these could work back when Cody performed a similar escape at our old house. Now I can lock that door, just in case, but talk about a make your heart jump out of your chest moment!
A less intensely terrifying moment happened just the week before when we went to St. Louis Mills Mall. I just felt like going for a walk, and I thought the kids might enjoy playing on the play equipment, so off we went, and it was a lot of fun. The kids were pretty patient as I did my few laps around (each lap around that mall is a mile! :) So, after we were done we went over to the play land. Clark and Carissa were running around, going down the slide, etc. Then Carissa tripped while she was running and hit her lip on the squishy floor mats that cover the ground underneath the whole structure. She started crying, and I rushed over to grab her and kiss the owie. Her lip started swelling and bruising a little, but she was going to be just fine. After mommy made it better, then she ran off to play some more. Then about 3 minutes later, Clark tripped over his own feet while he was walking over the bridge and bumped his lip. I ran up there and got him, kissed it, and made it better, but his lip started to swell up in exactly the same spot that Carissa's had. They looked like little fat lipped twins. Since both of them had gotten their bump for the day, we decided that it was time to go home. As I put them both into the double stroller, it was almost cute to watch them both sitting there, trying to smile, with their little duck lips.
These two incidents made me think about life a little bit. As parents, we all want to protect our children, and some accidents, like Clark's escape, can be prevented. They sell better locks for doors, but smaller things like fat lips or scrapes are things that have to happen to all of us. As I've seen with the older two, when kids grow, the bumps and bruises don't happen on the outside as much. We will need to help our children find ways to deal with the bumps that happen as we go along the road of life. Carissa and Clark were easily comforted when they bumped their lips, but it will take more time and more love to help our kids recover from things like being teased , a broken heart, or any of life's other disappointments. Mommy's kiss probably won't make it all better when those times comes, but hopefully they will have learned strength, love, and to rely on the Lord from us as their parents. Still, the mother in me wishes that their problems would always stay this small.
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