leob1

The thread about how are kids scare us got me to thinking about the moments when my kids did something that was not quite so serious or life threatening as an auto accident, but cause me to lose the power of speech, and my heart to skip a beat or two. Here's two of mine:
1.My daughter was 4, and of course since she is almost a clone of her mother, very independent. We where going down the carpeted stairs into the basement, she had to do it herself, and wouldn't hold my hand. Both kids would usually jump of the last step or two, not really a big deal. But this day she stopped on the 5th step from the bottom, said 'I jump' and launched herself into the air. Like a Sam Peckenpaugh movie, I heard my voice in a long drawn out 'nnnnoooooooo'. She almost made it. She landed on her feet on the last step, and took a casual step on to the floor. Meanwhile, you could see my heart pounding through my shirt.
2.My son was about 10, and decided he wanted to rollerblade in the driveway, so he put his skates on, inside the house. To get outside he had to go down three steps. I just happen to be standing near the steps when he came out of the door. he paused at the top of the steps, I started to say 'Don't you do it!', but I only gout out 'D' be for he was flying through the air. He landed on his feet, and skated away. I was left standing there with my lips moving but no sound was coming out, and my life shortened by a few heart beats.

overthehillmedi

You neglected to say what damage these incidents did to your grey hair count.My father told me that having us kids is what caused hin to get and have grey hairs.Dad would not have lied to me,would he?

Dchiefransom

We are supposed to have hair left?

Retro Grouch 

It doesn't change much as they get older either. I have a 33 year old son who has taken up motocross motorcycle raceing.

tzracer

You have to scare them first. After seeing me crash last year, my 5 YO no longer wants me to race.

CACycling

When my boys were 1 & 3, we were spending a week at the family lake house. There had been a lot of news coverage about a child abduction in the general area so that was on our mind. They had a big peddler's fair in the town near the lake and we decided to check it out. One minute our 3 year old was right there, the next minute he was nowhere in sight.

Don't need to describe the panic as I'm sure you all can imagine. My wife ran to get the sheriff, other family members spread out to look and I stayed with our 1 year old in case his brother found his way back.

Although it seemed like an eternity had passed I'm sure it was probably only 5 minutes when the door to a nearby porta potty swung open. There was my son, pants down at his ankles and a big smile on his face yelling "I went poop all by myself!"

charmed

Ah yes, the newly potty trained three year old. :-)

My youngest has quite a sweet tooth. Someone had given us a bag of those huge, individually wrapped life savers. I brought the kids in the house, went back out to the garage to bring in stuff. I came back in and my almost 3 year old had her mouth full. "What are you eating?" She immediately tried to swallow it, and it lodged in her throat. I grab her and hold her upside down, yelling at her 7 year old sister to call 911. As I'm pounding her on the back I can hear her sister on the phone, "She's choking, my mom is busy, she's trying to get her not to choke, I can open the door, she's still choking, my mom has her upside down.." She sounded down right bored, as if this happens at our house all the time. I can hear the firetruck coming up the street, and just as my older daughter runs to the door to let them in the candy comes flying out of the younger one's mouth. I set her down and she is all smiles. "Fireman!!!!" One fireman helps me find all the candy pieces, to make sure we got it all. Another is offering the little one a stuffed animal, which means she then has to lead the rest of them off to show them all her stuffed animals. One is pinning a bravery badge on the 7 year old for being so calm on the phone. They finally reconvene, decide everything is okay. We stand out front and wave goodbye to the fire truck, and I come in and collapse on the floor hugging my girls. At that point the newly potty trained almost three year old says "Oh no!! I forgot to show them my new underwear!"

And yes, since then they always come up with ways to make my heart skip a beat. From running off in airports (older one, when she was three) to jumping horses (younger one, starting at age 9).

jppe

Every time one of my daughters brings a new boyfriend home.......

Artkansas 

In 1962, one morning I awoke my parents with the greeting, "Happy Birthday Mommy. The house is on fire!"


It was true. It was my mother's birthday. My brother and I had been playing with matches in our bedrooms. I was safely using the ceramic tiles on my bedroom window sill, but my younger brother had been doing it next to his bedroom curtains and one curtain caught fire. My parents managed to put the fire out fortunately with just the loss of the curtains and smoke damage.

Kids!