Cardinal Sin

I was in Chicago this week at a conference and was presenting on Thursday morning to a small group when my phone started ringing with a Tampa number, but one I didn't immediately recognize. The same number immediately called back. Shortly there after Carrie was calling so at that point I realized something must be wrong and stopped to take the call. Daycare had been trying to get a hold of both us. Carrie wasn't answering her phones because she was on a conference call. It turns out they had an emergency at daycare. Quentin had been in an accident caused by one of their employees. He had taken a pretty good fall. They had him on a changing table and committed a cardinal sin. They left him there for a second to pick up something they had dropped on the floor. It only takes a second. In the time she moved away from him he lunged to grab her, missed and fell off the table landing face first on the floor. He fell awkwardly so he wasn't able to catch himself so the impact was on his face. He also had a pacifier in his mouth making the situation worse because it's hard plastic. He ended up tearing the skin off that attaches your upper lip to your gum above your front teeth. He's lucky he kept all his teeth. There was some blood, a lot of crying and some fear with a head injury since he could have a concussion. I was out of town so it was a wait and see moment while Carrie rushed to daycare to take him to the doctor. They decided to cut the remaining part of skin off and thought it would heal in a few days. They told us to just monitor his sleep by giving him a little poke every 30 minutes or so to make sure he was stirring.

After flying home and getting in late last night I spent some time with him this morning and he wasn't acting any different than normal so he's going to be fine. That was our first call and my colleagues, nearly all parents, said it was good preparation for the ones that are sure to follow. At least it wasn't the police. In our parenting class they were constantly harping that it only takes a second and I think most tragedies involving children lost sight of them for a second and disaster struck. It makes me a lot more concerned leaving him at daycare. Being involved in operations at work my first thought is how many times did this same thing happen with no consequences? If this happened once surely it's happened before and the child (not just ours) simply didn't fall. This is a procedural mistake. The real question is, is this a pattern of behavior or an isolated incident? For what it's worth the teacher supervising him we really like and so does he. She felt awful, crying the entire time Carrie was there when we picked him up but that doesn't make me feel any better. I just feel like the only thing we are paying for is safety. I am expecting my child to not have to wear a helmet to the changing table. Maybe I should be more cynical about the whole process. After the first few months of taking him to daycare we haven't thought much about his safety but now all day long that's all I'm thinking about. After all we had to bring him right back this morning. That's like sticking your hand right back on the hot stove after getting burned. What if he would've ran into the road? I guess it's not wise to the play the what if game.

We'll most likely just have to get over it. For what it's worth the daycare just went through their yearly safety training. I think that makes me feel worse. They probably should've made sure everyone was awake.

On a more positive note follow the link to our wonderful screaming child on Santa's lap. He enjoys screaming through life's firsts. (Remember his birthday cake)?

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