Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Closing the Doors

Kevin has a new game.  He likes to go into his room and shut the door.  Then, he will happily play by himself for 10-20 minutes and then he will politely say, "Ah, ah!" and I will go open the door a crack so he can get out.

It's a really funny game actually. The other day, he was getting really made because he had been dragging his bucket of blocks behind him, and it got stuck in the door, so he couldn't get it shut.  He was getting angrier and angrier as he tried to close the door, so I went to help him.  I tried to open the door so I could move the block bucket, but he just became more furious because I wasn't letting him close the door.  He didn't realize that I was only trying to help, but sometimes you have to open the door and move the obstacles before you can close it all the way.  Eventually we got the door shut and he was happy.

However, the other day, this almost had a frightening conclusion.

Kevin's bedroom is almost 100% baby proof.  It is very, very rare that he can injure himself in there.  It's been weeks since he has.  So, I usually don't worry about him while he is in his bedroom.  I let him go in there by himself all the time.  However, we usually keep our bedroom and bathroom door closed because those two rooms aren't baby proof. 

The other day, I heard him go into his room and shut the door.  I kept working on what I was doing, but about five minutes later I heard him crying from very far away.  I jumped up and ran, trying to find him.  His bedroom door was wide open.  I saw that my bedroom door was open too. 

I suddenly realized where he was. He was in our bathroom and he was still crying.  I quickly opened the door and there stood Kevin with my razor in one hand and blood all over his hands.  I quickly comforted him as I took the razor away and washed his hands in the sink. Luckily the cuts were superficial and he hadn't done much damage.  However, it could have been much worse. 

There are a lot of deeper meanings I could find in this.  Babies are good at providing simple examples for complex subjects.  However, I'm just going to pick one moral.

Don't close the doors on the people who are trying to help you. Often, when we shut people out of our lives we distance ourselves from the very ones who could help and protect us.  It is important to leave the doors open so that others can support and aid us when we find ourselves in trouble.

So, Kevin, keep those doors open!

7 comments:

  1. Scary :( I csn't tell you how many times Daniel emptied my sharps container onto the floor, counter, tub...that time of mobility without judgment but lots of determination. Glad you found him & he was ok.

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    1. "Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what this kid has," said Grig. I agree.

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  2. I love the way you apply such beautiful principles to everyday situations. Thank you for sharing the meaningful messages.

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  3. (AND I am also grateful Kevin's injuries were superficial!)

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    1. As are we. Thank you. Sometimes situations ask to have principles applied to them.

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  4. Wow, that's scary! I'm glad that he's okay!

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