Tuesday, December 13, 2005

My Little Squishy

Remember that line from FINDING NEMO? Dory loved her little squishy, yanno, until it zapped her. Dang jellyfish anyway.

Well, I apparently tried to make my own Little Squishy. Since January, my kids have wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese that they built and I kept putting if off - "Yeah, okay, by the end of the year." Well, the kids called it on me: End of the year is almost here and I hadn't taken them yet.

Fine. Git in the van then.

The big teenager, Ms. Angst, stayed home. So it was me, the 11 year old mini-me named Carly, the heathenistic 5 year old daughter Sydney, and the angel boy, 4 year old Cooper. We drive to the next town, and although it was already 7pm, the place was pretty packed. We parked, and the way the van was angled, the nose of the van faced downhill.

I get the kids out. We're right next to the mall, so I'm being careful with the two tiny ones to stay by me. I go to nudge the sliding door, since gravity will pull it rest of the way closed.

Yanno that saying about an object in motion tends to STAY in motion? That's true. In case you were wondering.

At the last minute, as I watched the sliding door zip shut, Cooper puts his head back in. I watched as the van door slammed into the side of his head, pushing it against the frame on the opposite side, causing his head to be smashed in the door.

It was like slow motion. My hand was trying to grab on to stop it, but it really was just like watching helplessly. It seemed to go on forever when in fact it was less than a second. I had this flash in my brain that he was suspended between the door and the frame and the moment I got it open, he'd collapse.

He didn't. He screamed. He cried. I tried to load the kids up into the van to go to the ER, but Cooper wiped his tears and said, "I fine." (He's working on "I'm".) He's got a knot on the side of his head and a small scratch, and that's it.

Mom aged twenty years instantly. He went inside and rocked with Chuck E. Cheese for two hours. Now we call him, "My Little Squishy", to which he replies, "MoooOOOooom!!!"

4 comments:

Lexi said...

I think I aged about 10 years just from reading it and I don't even have kids!

Anonymous said...

So glad Cooper is okay! Kiss his little bump for me! {{{hugs}}}

Anonymous said...

That must have scared you to death. Boy, aren't kids resilient. Hugs for both of you.

Brenda said...

Yes, it did scare me to death and yes! I think I aged considerably from it!!!

HI BOOPS! I have delivered your kiss. Glad to see you dropping in, too :)