Six Year Old Boys Don't Defy Gravity

My middle son and I just returned from our annual trip to the emergency room. I should be grateful that we have had more ER-free intervals as he gets older. But, if any kid is going to make your heart stop, it is him. After explaining to my oldest son that we couldn't go play on the south playground at church because it's isolated and not safe in the late afternoon, my middle son falls off the playground equipment on the "safe" playground. Actually he didn't fall off the equipment, he willingly jumped off. He and his brother play a secret spy game where one is Cody and the other is Toady (I believe it is actually spelled Tody, but prenounced Toady). I don't know who is who, but today, my older son, as part of the game, told my younger son to jump off a 6-8 foot ledge on the playground equipment and my younger son, not ever wanting to disappoint his big brother and willing to follow him into battle, complied with this request. The middle son was lying on his back, crying, when I found him. Apparantly 6 year old boys are not like cats and don't land on their feet when dropped from high places. Mine landed flat on his back.

When I came over to survey the damage, the 6 year old was crying and therefore, luckily, conscious. His big brother was standing at his head and was peering down at him. When I asked him for an explanation, an astute observer of the obvious, he said, "He's crying". My oldest was suddenly struck with an amnestic illness and couldn't remember any of the details of the fall or the events preceding it. Though he did admit to suggesting the foolish stunt to his younger brother, he rationalized it with "But I was going to jump after him". I guess he was only going to jump if his younger brother succeeded in his experiment and survived the fall. Since the experiment failed, it was a good thing he sacrificed his younger brother (all in the name of science). The younger one was castigated for following his older brother like a lemming and the older brother was restricted from all electronic devices till his 21st birthday and was not allowed to talk for the rest of the evening.

We had been at church for the boys' choir program. They managed to pull it together for the production and about an hour and a half later, while at dinner, my middle kid started complaining that it hurt everytime he took a breath or if he moved around. Though I am a doctor, I loose all objectivity when it's one of my kids. My own husband was working in the Ben Taub Emergency Center, so he conveniently missed all of the family drama and exictement.

So, here we are 6 x-rays and $6000 later.

Psalm 91

9 If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
10 no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
11 For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.