A letter to Simone

Dear Simone,

    When you were a little girl, you were the most accident prone human being I had ever met.

I wrote "were a little girl" in hopes that you out grow this as you get older. You are brave and small and the combination is not a good one. You climb on anything and everything to get things that you want. You jump as though you will never get hurt. You bounce around on the couch as if it's a bounce house. (Which, we are considering moving into to keep you safe.)  You love to dance...your favorite stage is the middle of the kitchen table.You run all the time. If you aren't running, you usually hippy-hop. Still dangerous.

 Last Monday you were sitting on a bar stool eating your breakfast. I would love to say that breakfast was my famous pancakes with homemade syrup and fresh fruit, but it was cold cereal. I was helping Wyatt and Natalia get ready to leave for the bus, and you fell off the bar stool. You were trying to get down and somehow you slipped right off your seat and landed so hard right on your forehead. That poor little forehead of yours. I screamed so loud, it woke Daddy up. Wyatt tried to catch you, but he was two steps too far.  I picked you up and you cried so hard. The big kids got on the bus, and then we cuddled in my bed and watched movies on my ipad. Then you threw up.

Daddy and I got all of us ready to go really quick after the doctor told us to get you to the ER.  You couldn't walk, and were wobbly. We buckled you in your seat, and then you threw up again. I comforted you but I was so scared. Daddy drove like a very safe, crazy man all the way to the hospital. When we got you in the hospital room you were acting so cooky and funny. You had a sweet smile. They gave you a new teddy bear and a book to read. You were happy. Then you started to throw up again. You couldn't stop for a long time. It was so sad. Daddy and I kept looking at each other, we were so worried. We couldn't do anything to help you, except rub your little back. Daddy pulled your hair up in a ponytail for you.

You got a CT scan, and you tried your best to hold still. I was with you and told you to close your eyes, and that doing that might help you be still. I watched you close your big beautiful eyes. You looked so tiny to me, and so brave. My heart was aching and hoping you would be okay.

When we got back to the room with your bear and book, you threw up more. The doctor came in soon and told us your CT scan looked good. That was good news. We had to watch to close for 48 hours...and wake you twice during the night.

I won't read you this letter when you are little, but one day when you are a Mommy- you will call me because your little one has hit her head and you are so worried. That is exactly what I did, I called my Mom. She told me about a time when my sister did this very same thing. I will remind you of this hard day, and then we will probably worry together until we know everything is alright- just like my Mom and I did.
 The next day I heard you moving your stepping stool with two steps. I walked into the bathroom to find that you had pushed it up the side of the bathtub. You were on the top step, reaching for a little shampoo bottle in the wire basket that hangs from the shower head. Really? Really?


I love you, Simone.


Time for a helmet.