I’ve Regressed 36 Years …. And It Ain’t Pretty!

After 36 years of feeling the earth beneath my feet, I am now back to getting around the place on all fours – and believe me it’s not nearly as cute as when I was crawling at 9 months old!

You see, yesterday was panning out to be a very relaxing Sunday. Swimming lessons were completed, Christmas lights were hung on the exterior of the house, grocery shopping was attended to and I even managed to slip over to the neighbour’s house for a coffee and a good old chin-wag.

However, when the clock struck 4pm, this relaxing day took a turn for the worse: My 4 year old daughter had just received a telling-off for throwing pebbles into the inflatable pool, so she was up in the garden shed having a sulk. Now, what I should have done here is left her to her own devices and let her come back down into the house when she was over it. But, this is not what I did. Instead, I walked up the steps, made of stone, retrieved my daughter, picked her up and started to make my way down the steps with her in my arms.

This was a recipe for disaster: The uneven steps, combined with my well-worn thongs (I still find it hard to not write ‘jandals’ there) and the fact that I was carrying a 4 year old child downstairs was definitely not the cleverest idea I have ever had – in fact, looking back, it was bloody stupid!

Needless to say, I took the first step, went over on my ankle and sent my daughter tumbling down the stairs and landing in a heap on the pavers below.

Upon hearing the screams from both female members of the family, my husband came racing out to see what the “hell has happened.”

All I can say at this point is that somebody must have been looking over us, because my daughter survived with only very minor scrapes on her legs and I just have a sprained ankle (well that’s what I am self-diagnosing at the moment as I haven’t had any medical advice). You can’t actually see my ankle now for the swelling and bruising and I can’t, as yet, put weight on it.

When I asked my husband how I was going to get around he went to the cupboard and fetched me a cricket bat to “use as a leg.” Mmmm … I’m not sure how this was really supposed to work, so instead I have taken to crawling around on all fours instead. I can’t say I’m really enjoying going back to crawling – It feels very strange and unfortunately makes me realise just how dirty my floors are!

So, the lesson here people is DO NOT CARRY CHILDREN DOWN THE STAIRS!
Also, it’s quite ok to leave your children to have their little tantrums for awhile without feeling like you have to run and save them.

For me, it’s definitely a lesson well learnt as I’m not keen on spending too much more of my life crawling around the house like a baby.

Have you made any stupid decisions lately when it comes to parenting?