Richie's accidental gift

Rich and I have spent a lot of time together these past several days. This evening, we played a game we haven’t in a while. Rich sat atop my bed as I crawled all around it very quickly and had him chase me and try to find me. He loves this game, and he laughs a lot whenever we play it.

But I suddenly remembered why we don’t play it very often when Rich accidentally crawled too fast and too far and went over the bed and landed on his head. He was probably more startled than anything, but he quickly began to wail. Can you imagine that? You’re having the time of your life, not a care in the world, when very suddenly you’re terrified and hurt.

Rich wanted to be held, of course. Karen arrived on the scene quickly, but I picked him up and held him right away. When Karen offered to take him, he just stayed with me and rested his head. The wailing calmed to a cry and the crying stopped a little later when Karen turned on an episode of Baby Einstein on my desk. I sat down in my office chair and held him, his head still resting on my chest. I sat there with him lying on me for twenty or thirty minutes. I think the last time he was that still and let me hold him for that long was probably before he could crawl. It was absolutely the greatest gift this Thanksgiving break.

Thanks, Karen, for sharing this picture.

Not helping a little old lady cross the street, but still pretty classic

One of the many perks of having Karen's mom around is that she can be the babysitter. It was nice to get out and walk around with Karen last night after Rich went to bed. On making our way back home, though, we heard the mew of a kitten nearby. It was strange to hear a kitten outside, so we stopped and went back a few paces. Suddenly, we realized that the mewing came from the tree near us. We looked up and saw a kitten stuck in the tree. Karen and I tried to coax it down, but it only moved a little bit, looking genuinely scared the whole time. Finally, I said, “It’ll come down when it really wants to. We should just go.” And Karen said, “No, I’m not leaving until this kitten is safe. I’m a mother, and I know a cry for help when I hear one.”

We stayed a little longer, and the kitten finally made its way down. But then we walked away and it followed us. It even came up and brushed against my leg. We thought the kitten must belong to someone nearby, so we headed back to the house nearest the tree. We got near the house, but then a man and his dog rounded the corner and the kitten went into the bushes. At that point we left, hoping the kitten would find its home, because we didn’t want to confuse it into thinking it belonged to us.

It was a fun evening walk. I guess we did our good turn for the day.