Xander Week 96 - First Big Fall
November 8, 2008
Xander in his castle
So, this happened just before Halloween, but I got so distracted by Xander’s recent fears that I decided to put off the post about his tumble. However, it was rather monumental as far as tumbles go, and in the interest of keeping a relatively accurate account of Xander’s life, I didn’t want to miss it completely.
We have a pretty solid morning routine. I get up first and get ready for work. About that time, Xander wakes up and watches a cartoon in bed with Zach (lately he’s been addicted to Little Einsteins). When I’m done getting myself ready, I retrieve Xander, and we go downstairs, make his chocolate milk (another recent addiction - we’ve resorted to Ovaltine to at least add a few vitamins in the mix…), and then change his diaper and get him ready for the day. Once Xander is done, he helps me wake up Dad, and then we finish his cartoon on the couch while Zach gets ready for work. Then we all pile in the car and I drop everyone off before arriving at work myself.
For a few mornings prior to the big fall, Xander had been asking to turn on the light at the top of the stairs (as with most stairwells, there is a light switch at the top and bottom, and Xander likes to flip them both). Given his recent fears, I’d been indulging this request, and lifting him up to turn on the light.
This particular morning, he told me wanted to turn on the light, so I paused at the top of the stairs to pick him up. He must have changed his mind, because he started walking down the stairs in front of me. I should mention that Xander has been walking up and down stairs since about 16 months - we removed the gate from the stairs and allowed him to do this by himself around 18 months. So, walking down the stairs is not usually a big deal. However, since Xander also recently became convinced that “bad guys” are going to get his feet when he sleeps, he’s been wearing socks to bed. The combination of sleepy, and stocking feet and dark were apparently too much that morning, because about the third stair down Xander slipped.
It was a bit of a slow motion moment. I remember reaching out for him, and thinking I could almost catch a limb, but then wondering if pulling on a limb would be worse - dislocating it, etc. At that point, he somehow twisted sideways, and his poor little body flopped down the rest of the stairs. When he finally reached the bottom, his head smacked hard against the wood floor.
I of course flew down the stairs and scooped him up, and the comotion brought Zach out of bed in a hurry as well. Xander cried for a few minutes, probably both scared and sore. I felt awful - I should have been in front of him walking down the stairs, not behind. I’m sure at some point this fall was bound to happen, but I still feel terrible that it happened on my watch.
Luckily, Xander seemed fine. He had a small scrape on his knuckle, a bruise on his side, and a lump on his head. He mentioned bumping his head several more times that morning, and again in the evening. We of course let his day care know so they could keep an eye on him during the day to make sure there wasn’t some sort of more serious hidden injury. He was fine, but that image of his little body tumbling down the stairs is one that I have not been able to shake…
On a more positive note, Xander got his flu shot this week. He was amazing! He sat in his own chair (didn’t want to sit on my lap), cried for maybe 30 seconds after he got the shot, then hopped off the chair and was ready to go. We didn’t have any pacifiers with us, so he didn’t use one of those, and he didn’t ask for a hug from me when it was over, he just held his Curious George stuffed animal, and apparently that was enough. What a tough little guy!
In our town there are many, many opportunities for Halloween trick-or-treating, parties, etc. It all starts the Friday night before Halloween, this year, it was the week before. The local business host trick-or-treating in their shops. There is music and activities on the town common, candy in the stores, and often hot cider and cookies around for hungry parents. We brought Xander with some friends last year, and although he was too young to really appreciate the event, he had fun people watching, and we enjoyed the near mob scene. This year, we took Xander again, thinking that even though he is still small, he would probably enjoy seeing the other kids, and all the people.
Although I’ve been sworn to secrecy, 
About a two weeks ago Xander decided that he did not need anything besides chocolate milk in order to function. We continue offering 3 meals a day and snacks, and we’ve limited him to one sippy cup of chocolate milk in the mornings when he gets up, and one when he gets home from day care, and he continues to refuse food. I admire his restraint - it would be one heck of a diet plan for an adult. And I think so far we’ve handled the hunger strike pretty well - we offer the food, but don’t force it, and if he wants to get down from the table and play, that’s fine, but we won’t get down and play with him until we’re done eating (this often frustrates him, and sometimes results in tears, but we’ve remained consistent in telling him no).