After staying up late last night to upgrade JapanSoc, I was woken abruptly this morning by a loud smash, a scream, crying, a further scream from my wife, and then the vision of Rikuto’s face covered in blood!
An obstacle course
Rikuto is getting squirmy, and by that I mean he can squeeze through or climb over all kinds of obstacles. I thought we had done a pretty good job of making our living room baby-safe, but clearly not enough. Somehow Ricky managed to squeeze between the sofa and a chair (placed deliberately to block him), then under another chair to reach the far side of the table in the furthest corner of the room.
With me in bed and Mami hanging up the washing – 3 minutes at most – Rikuto had clambered his way across the room, through the various furniture to a cable dangling from the table above him. A strong tug was enough to pull a heavy, glass lamp off the tabletop and send it crashing down onto his head, smashing into fragments all over the floor.
A trip to the hospital
Considering the weight of the lamp, and the number of shards of glass it shattered into, it was quite amazing that Ricky suffered nothing more than two cuts and a big bump. Let’s not underestimate those cuts, though. Both were deep and bled profusely, one on his forehead about an inch and a half long, and another on his cheek.
Fortunately, Mami is a nurse, so she was able to patch the little guy up and I drove them to hospital where Rikuto got some proper treatment, and fortunately, no stitches were necessary.
Reflecting on the day
It’s amazing that the cuts he sustained were in easily treatable places, and what a miracle the glass didn’t get him in the eye.
Parenting is a tough gig, and we’ve learned some valuable lessons today. Let’s hope Rikuto has, too.
If you like, you can find me on Twitter at @nick_ramsay. I'd love to hear from you!
Hey,
I’m just glad nothing really bad happened to you guys. Being parents is always tough and you try to do your best to make sure this kind of stuff doesn’t happen – and guess what – it still does! But you know one thing – you’ve minimized the chances and that’s the most you can do.
Take care of all of you and hope you all feel better soon : )
What a scary morning. I’m glad everyone’s alright. Let’s hope the bump doesn’t leave little Rikuto with a British accent when he speaks 😛
Get well soon Riki-poo!
Oh Nick! Poor little lad. He must have had a terrible shock.
Hope he’s ok.
Glad to hear it wasn’t serious. I’m sure he will heal up quick.
Thanks for your kind comments everyone. Rikuto is fine, and doesn’t seem to have noticed the band-aids on his face. I woke up this morning with him sitting beside me playing on my mobile phone. He’s managed to find the mp3 player, browse photos of himself, call people on speed dial and has even subscribed to the news channel (which is driving me nuts because I can’t unsubscribe and it makes my phone ring at 10 past the hour, every hour, with the latest bulletins!).
Glad to hear that he’s dong better. I wonder what he will get into next? I’m sure you guys are frantically going about your house trying to figure it out..
Aww… I’m glad he’s ok. Head cuts are always scary because the head bleeds so much more and more quickly than anywhere on the body but they often look worse than they are and are scarier for the onlooking parents than the child because the patient knows there isn’t as much pain as it looks like there is ^_^
Tough gig indeed.
Ok, this decides it! I’m not having kids. That would break my heart if I saw it.
Now, now. Kids get bumps and bruises from the time they walk to the time they retire (and even after that!). We can’t deny our desires and avoid having children. Though many young men might not readily admit it, they all want to hear a little voice say things like “Da-Da”, “Why is the sky blue?”, and “I’m moving out” 😛
Nick, I have just seen your post about Ricky and your mobile phone. He is hilarious. He definitely seems to take after you. I am so glad he hasn’t come to too much harm, lovely little boy. We are itching for some more photos or videos of him. Is there any chance soon?
I am traumatised just reading about that. That sounds like it was very scary. I’m just glad that it turned out to be nothing major.