Last week was Andrea's spring break, so the first part of it was to be spent with grandparents, great-grandma, uncle, and great-uncle in Susanville. The plan was to leave Friday night (April 3) around Emmett's bedtime so that he would sleep the entire 5ish hour trip. However, earlier that day Emmett and I were in the playground doing our typical playground thing and I got to talking with another parent as she has a kid that is about Emmett's age. While I was doing this, Emmett was climbing around on the play structure and, as he had been working on learning to walk, decided to stand up and then step down the step that he was on to the next lower level. I only caught this maneuver out of the corner of my eye once things were in motion, and what I saw was Emmett try to step down, fall, to the step, and then fall to the ground. While he was falling I rushed to catch him, but failed as I was out of position (and had forgotten that there was a part of the structure where he was that didn't have a wall), and when I got to him where he was laying in the sand, his mouth and face were covered with sand and he had the mouth open/silent cry going on. I should point out that this was a pretty high fall, around 4.5 feet, and I took a picture yesterday to share the near-disaster (with Emmett in the picture to give scale). The platform he fell off of is directly above him and the level that he was on and trying to step down from is about 10 inches above that on the right (when I took Emmett back for this picture it was our first re-visit of the site and I thought I could sense a little fear---probably just reading into it):
I picked Emmett up (knowing I should let him at least get himself up a bit first, but the parent that I was with was in a total panic) and it took a few seconds until the tears started up with sound, but they came. He cried for a few minutes while I tried to get the sand off of his face, out of his mouth, and out of his eye, but actually recovered pretty quickly making me think that he was scared more than anything (sadly, my second thought after my concern for his safety was a flashback to the discussion that Andrea and I had had at this playground whether Emmett would be hurt from a fall from that height to the sand and thinking that I was right that he probably wouldn't be hurt). To test out his recovery I took him to the gate, which is one of his favorite playthings, and made sure that he could use his legs and arms alright (my only fears at this point were a broken collarbone and a concussion). Everything checked out and he was fully recovered in a few minutes.
I debated telling Andrea about this, but did when she came home from school and while Emmett was still napping. She was a little worried (understandably) and didn't like the fact that Emmett was taking such a long nap as he had slept about 1.5 hours by the time she got home and would take about a 2 hour nap---long for an afternoon nap for him. Her worry here was that sleepiness is one of the signs of concussion, and I tried to tell her everything seemed fine but she really needed to see him herself. He awoke and seemed OK to her so we continued to get ready.
We didn't get out of the house until 7:45 or so and headed off for Susanville via car. Midway across the Bay Bridge Emmett coughed a little and then regurgitated a little of dinner. Andrea voiced her concerns that yet another sign of concussion had appeared and I tried to convince her that he had just eaten too much (true) and had spit up because he is in a funny seated position while I wiped the vomit off of happy, smiling Emmett at 65 miles per hour on the bridge. We stopped at the first exit to clean him properly and restarted our trip with me searching on the iPhone for signs of concussions in Emmett. I read the off to Andrea and she seemed to agree that it was just coincidence and that he didn't seem to be acting like he had a concussion. This would be the last sign we would see even hinting at concussion, so the fall has been moved from the worry category to the "make fun of Damon's bad parenting" category for Andrea. Hooray!
The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful with Emmett sleeping to Reno, waking when we got gas, and then staying awake most of the way to Susanville and never complaining the entire trip---even when sitting in his own vomit. Andrea's parents (pictured, left) were up when we arrived (1:00ish) and Emmett was very excited to see them and not very excited to be put to bed pretty immediately after arrival.
The visit in Susanville was nice and we were constantly trying to get Emmett to work on his walking. He could take a couple of steps toward somone who beckoned and would typically turn the last step or two into a lunging dive, so he wasn't giving the impression that he realized that this was actually an effective means of transportation. Also, Emmett spent quite a bit of time in people's arms, and it wasn't uncommon for someone to walk by him in another's arms and be greeted with his way of communicating that he wants to be in that person't arms (pictured, left). Lots of fun.
Being able to visit both of our families in one visit has always been a perk for having married a person from Susanville. It was great for Emmett to get tons of grandparent attention while he was there (being read to by my mom, at left) and helped him to get worn out and sleep really well while there.We stayed through Tuesday afternoon and tried a daytime drive with Emmett on the way back. We timed it so that we took off around nap time and he slept through Reno or so and then was awake the rest of the time. I felt very guilty having him strapped in so long as he never is really tied down like that for longer than a half hour for feedings, in the stroller, or on the bike, so 4 or 5 hours seemed like forever. We stopped near Auburn to give him a break and then stopped in Davis to dine. Emmett was on good behavior and the people sitting next to us at the restaurant said they couldn't believe that he would sit there happily that long.
We made it home not long after Emmett's bedtime and he was really happy to be home it seemed---excited at all of the familiar things he hadn't seen for so long. I got up with him the next morning and took him into the kitchen with me while I put together breakfast. While my back was turned I heard the sound of steps and turned around to see Emmett walking from the table to the wall, so he finally had put it together that walking can actually be useful. It was funny as a similar thing happened with crawling when we returned from our Portland visit where as soon as he got home he made the transition from worming to crawling. If we would only take him on more trips where he picks up new skills we would end up with a prodigy.
The rest of the week was the remainder of Andrea's spring break. Our friend Laura came into town Wednesday night and stayed with us through yesterday, and spent her time entertaining Emmett and giving him pleasurable headrubs. She got to see Emmett pee in the middle of the floor with Andrea and I celebrating that he is figuring out how his body works. I am surprised she didn't leave right then.The other big developmental thing is that while Laura was here I was holding Emmett upside down and a flash of white in his mouth caught my eye and upon further investigation I found that Emmett has his first molar. Andrea would later find by feel that there was another molar on the other side and while fishing something out of his mouth today with my finger I realized that he has at least one other molar (total three) coming in. Bring on the steaks!
