This evening's madness

I am still reeling from the evening I just had. I don't know what to think.

Aiden is an adventurous little boy and gets into a lot of things. He ends up with the typical little boy bruises, but has never REALLY hurt himself. Sometimes, I think it's an absolute miracle that he's only had one ER visit and that was only for an eraser stuck up the nose.

Well, he decided to push the limits tonight. I was using the restroom, John was on the computer checking email, Aiden was playing in his room. Suddenly, I hear this huge crash and Aiden starts screaming. I run in and find Aiden trapped under his dresser!! He actually pulled it down onto himself! He was scared, but only ended up with a small scratch on his arm. Big deep breath for mommy... Jeez. Ok, back to normal life.

Not 15 minutes later, I'm cleaning up from dinner, and I thought Aiden was watching TV. I then hear this odd banging sound and Aiden crying. I look into the living room to see that our front door has been unlocked and opened and Aiden is gone. I run out onto our "porch" to see that Aiden has taken his little ride-along car and tried to ride it down the steps. We live in a 2nd floor apartment!!! He had tumbled most of the way down the cement stairs. He was standing when I got to him, but I grabbed him up and ran back into the apartment. He was crying, I was crying....John was just standing there in absolute shock. Aiden, amazingly, wasn't seriously hurt. He ended up with a scratched face, arm, and back, but that's it.

I just can't believe it. I had no idea that my 2 1/2 year old knew how to unlock and open our front door. I like to think of myself as a very attentive parent. He just moved so fast... I'm so frazzled. So, we spent the evening bolting all of Aiden's furniture to the wall and installing a door knob cover on the front door.

On the bright side of things, John set up babysitting for BOTH kids for tomorrow evening. I really, really, REALLY need a break. Life with a toddler is extremely challenging at times. I know that I can't keep him from hurting himself entirely, but I still keep thinking of what I could have done differently to keep these things from happening. Really, nothing. When the first thing happened, he was playing in his room like he usually does in the evening. When the second thing happened, he was watching TV while I cleaned up from dinner, as usual. Ugh....I should go to bed and just attempt to renew myself a little bit. There's no use in dwelling over everything.