Bam-Bam Gets a Boo-Boo...
This is not the story of Kieran’s first nick, cut, or scrape…there have been so many…it is just a particularly memorable accident. The scene of the crime was the YMCA playground, following our weekly music class. Just as Kieran readied himself to ride the steep slide, I looked away for one fateful split-second.

The slide at the Y looks fairly steep, and quite frankly it frightens me! Not my fearless little explorer, though. From the first time we visited this playground he would march straight up the steps to the top of the highest slide. At first, I would not let him go down the slide without first easing him down halfway or so, before letting go. Gradually, I let him go more and more on his own. Eventually, I switched from controlling his descent to simply standing at the bottom, ready to catch him if the need arose. I was lulled into a sense of security, as he rarely even made it to the end of the slide before stopping. He would simply climb off the end, after his exhilarating ride to the bottom. Even his Mimi Susan had witnessed him ride this slide, lending me a grandmotherly stamp of safety approval!!!

On that day Kieran had worn a nylon outfit, with shorts made of slippery, swimsuit like material. As is often the case, I had been chatting with another parent – comparing notes on various local activities and learning about her experiences with a Spanish speaking nanny. Having seen him go down this slide so many times without requiring any assistance from me, I turned to say something to her just as he started his descent. I looked back in time to see a blinding flash of Kieran rocketing toward the ground, shooting off the end of the slide, rotating in mid air and landing on his front, in the sand!!! It was all over before I could even think to try to catch him – an attempt which would have likely only served to make things worse. He cried as I dusted him off and inspected the cut just under his eye, and the dime sized raspberry on the side of his forehead. As is usually the case he was fine within seconds!

I felt terrible – not only did I let him get hurt; I did it in front of another parent (and one who had just trusted me to supervise her 3 ½ year old while she ran to the bathroom!) In a half-hearted attempt to regain standing in her eyes, I mumbled something about how that had never happened before. She commented on the steepness of the slide. My recovery took longer than Kieran’s, but her unfazed reaction helped – she had been there before, kids get boo-boos…

Here are some pictures of my little Bam-Bam with his boo-boos (note: I waited several days before photographing him, I could not bear to have evidence of the injury’s full effect!)