Well, yesterday I think we experienced the first of these "boy moments". We had an appointment with the orthotist to get Matthew's new shoes, so I was excited and looking forward to that. About 30 minutes before we needed to leave, I heard Matthew get up from his nap and start playing. He sounded pretty content to play in his room, and it is normal for him to play for a while before I go up to get him. Usually either I take Scarlett up and we all play, or he will call me and I know he is wanting to come downstairs. But yesterday after about 10 minutes of him playing, he suddenly let out this scream. It was a scream that I can't put into words - definitely not a cry or shout, it was a scream. I don't think I've ever been THAT scared. I also don't think I've ever run that fast in my life! I dashed upstairs, only to find him with his head stuck in the rocking chair. Yes, I said stuck! I thought if a rocking chair was a hazard it was because of the rockers, not because of the chair! But somehow Matthew had his head in the seat and his body behind in the chair. There is a gap between the chair seat & chair back, so I can understand that something could go through there, but I really was shocked that he was stuck.
I got him calmed down and asked him if he had been in the chair or behind it, and he told me he was sitting in it. I figured that meant I needed to pull him out from the front. But no way was he coming through! I pulled and he screamed, but he wasn't coming out. So I went to the back and tried to get his head through. I tugged and he screamed, but he wasn't coming out. I got him settled down and told him I HAD to come downstairs to get the phone so I could call his daddy. He seemed to understand, so I left him in the corner of his room, stuck in his rocking chair. Once I grabbed the phone, Scarlett, and my water bottle (thinking I could distract him or it might help him relax), he started screaming again. I got back upstairs and he had walked across the room with his head stuck in the chair! The chair was right in front of the gate. I stepped over the gate & put Scarlett down, calmed Matthew down a little, and called David. He told me he wasn't coming home before our appointment, but then I told him about our little situation. He was on a conference call but said he would be right home.
After I hung up with David, I decided to call my sister. I knew she would keep me calm while I waited on him. I sat with Matthew kind of half standing/half sitting in my lap and rubbed his back, alternating talking to him and my sister. She told me she knew right away something was wrong when she saw caller ID (I never call in the middle of the day) and she was freaking out because she knew she couldn't get here quickly. (She lives, oh, about 900 miles away!) Once she learned what was going on she just talked and was all around great. She did ask me if I had taken any pictures. Well I didn't because the camera was downstairs and I was way too worried about Matthew to grab the camera. She told me when David got home I needed to put Scarlett in the jumperoo so she would be safe, but out of the way. I told her Scarlett was playing with Matthew's toys, and Matthew asked for his toys. So I handed him some that were within my reach and he played with them in the seat of the chair while we waited. Occasionally he would say "Dada comin', get Matthew out" and I would tell him "yes, dada is on his way." Once David got on the road to home he called me back & I told him to grab the camera before he came upstairs. Yeah, someday Matthew might hate us for it - leaving him in distress so we could capture the moment.
David tried pulling on Matthew, this way & that way, this way & that...then he asked me to pick Matthew up by the feet and hold him level with the seat of the chair. He grabbed Matthew's arms as I grabbed his feet and pulled him out SO EASILY! I told him I had tried that, but he pointed out that with Matthew's feet on the ground, his body was angled in a way that it kept getting stuck. Picking his feet up changed the angle so he was able to slide right through. I sure hope Matthew has learned his lesson and won't try going through that opening again. (We aren't taking the chair out of his room now that we know how to get him out!)
No comments:
Post a Comment