Adoption Dad or Inspector Gadget?
You will be bloody knackered
Was the overriding response from our friends.
I wasn’t quite sure what they meant, but my son has done a remarkable job in educating me.
Like many other children (I am guessing) his exploratory intuition has developed before his understanding of gravity. Within, well… minutes really, he has sussed out the joy of jumping off the couch, or chair, or toy chest.
In return, I realise that my responsibility is to help school him in the practicalities of jumping (as well as the fun), so the quickest way would probably to let him jump and experience the fall. That would make me many things, cruel being one of them. Keen to avoid subjecting my son to some head trauma, my role, as I see it, is to catch him whenever he jumps.
Simple, if I had motion sensors peppered around the house, and a clear sight into the future. Sadly, with my life not being a sci-fi movie, I have neither of these, so have to rely on my new found skill of parental instinct, which is still very much in development.
I am learning the tell-tale sounds of a potential fall though, silence is indeed deafening, but the effort-loaded grunt of him trying to climb onto the couch is the one sound we need to keep listening out for.
Now I am a stay at home dad, obviously a great deal of my time is spent playing with him anyway, but when I nip to the kitchen to turn the hob off, for example, my internal alarm is switched on, and he sees this as carte blanche to put our adoption preparation to the test.
Running between rooms, and diving desperately, arms stretched, is only one lapse of concentration away.
So frequent is his attempts to render me horizontal, I often find myself muttering the words ‘go go gadget arms’ in a futile attempt to stretch out further than the law of physics will allow.
We knew as adoptive parents, our son would be testing our boundaries; but I wasn’t quite expecting the lengths of my arms to come in to question.
Short of moving into a bouncy castle, it was only a matter of time before a more serious accident happened, and so last week, unfortunately, I was proved right.
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About the Author: Andrew McDougall
Andrew is an adoptive father, and stay at home dad. Having adopted his son in January 2013, he is a new adoptive parent, but well versed in the adoption process. He is a married, coffee drinker, Xbox addict, and a graduate of Marketing. Andrew McDougall is an alias he uses to protect the identity of his adopted son. Comments (13)
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Sites That Link to this Post
- Top ten 80s cartoons | theonehandman | February 8, 2013
- Parental responsibility and the adoption process | February 11, 2013
- My adoptive son is a live in drunk | theonehandman | March 3, 2013
- Socialising and potential adoptive attachment issues | theonehandman | March 10, 2013
- Adoptive parents and their contradictory teachings | theonehandman | April 3, 2013
Oh bless. They do do that though. My niece terrified my her mum lately by falling off a goodness knows what and banging her head on the radiator. She managed a cut that needed A&E and some sticky stuff on it. She’s fine and still climbing though…
Considerer recently posted..I died 200 times…
Goodness I remember those days well. When he was little Mini was clumsy and an explorer (the two don’t get that well together) and we had many visits to A&E. Now Dollop is the climber but thankfully is more catlike landing on her feet rather than her head as her brother used to!
Thanks for linking up to the Weekly Adoption Shout Out
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Thanks for the comment, I will conclude the story on Sunday, but yeah clumsy has a new meaning in our house now!
Oh no hope he’s recovered. It does help them to learn but I remember quite clearly how horrified I was that both my boys had no sense of danger at all. Really common I think. Seen as though your arms will probably not extend much further than their normal span without some sort of invasive surgery, don’t forget the word “No” I used it a lot in the early days, they didn’t like it but balanced with all the other really good stuff it helped to set the boundaries early on. Glad to see he’s showing you the true meaning of exhaustion.
Thanks for the link up with Weekly Adoption Shout Out always a pleasure to visit here.
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Hmmm ‘No’ is used in our house, and equally ignored, and boundaries are seemingly meaningless at the moment. It is still early days, and we will persevere. He has recovered, and all is now well, but I will post the second half of the story on Sunday. Thanks for the comment, keep up the good work with WASO
thankfully we havent had to goto A and E but yes, boundaries are pushed and No ignored and a no sense of danger ethos as well as inquisitive, adventurous explorer and climber exists in our home at all times too. Firm, consistant, repeated constantly and relentlessly is slowly paying off.
I found you on the waso – good to meet you.
new pyjama mummy recently posted..All about Love – Day 8 – Love is Patient
Oh my, I hope he’s ok! Love the Inspector Gadget notion, though, and you’re right about the boundary testing.
Hi thanks for the comment, yeah he is okay, I will post the second part of this story tomorrow, but he is all good. Testing boundaries is a big one at the moment!