the price of independence

Caleb has really been wanting to do things by himself lately, from trying to get his toy elephant to sit in the driver's seat of his dump truck to going up and down the stairs. 

If help is verbally offered, he'll say no (ranging from politely to very emphatically.) If I just start to try to help him, sometimes he'll give a distressed 'no' or actually try to block my attempts. So, wanting him to gain his confidence and skills, I back off as much as I responsibly can and let him give it his go. Sometimes in the end he realizes he does need some help. Most of the time, he proves quite capable of whatever he is trying to achieve. 

But sometimes failing to achieve his goals has bigger consequences than getting an elephant stuck in a window, and this week he learned some unfortunate lessons.  

Mostly on his face. 

This lovely pattern is due to two separate incidents.  The bruises to the right of his mouth (as well as on his elbow, arm, and ear)  originated as follows: Caleb on top step, mom 5 steps below, trying to get a child who usually needs no encouragement to come downstairs so we can get out for our first house showing. To motivate him, mom says 'come on Caleb, let's go outside, we can see doggy!' Caleb, overcome with excitement, apparently forgets he is on top of stairs, and just walks right off the edge. After 2 collisions with steps, Mom catches a stunned and already sobbing son.

The goose egg, which you can see better in the photo below, seems much more like the sort of injury he should have gotten from tumbling down stairs, instead of from tipping forward, from standing, while trying to get onto his his motorcycle (once again, something he must do by himself.)

The severity of this bump came i think from the fact that he hit the front of our entertainment center right on a raised edge on the door panel.

 

I picked him up about 2 seconds after he fell forward, and he already had a purple line on his forehead, which swelled up to about the size of my thumb-tip in under a minute.  He was pretty traumatized from this fall too, but took longer to calm down from my attempts to apply ice than he did from the actual hit. 

I'm hoping he's learning from these experiences, and is able to apply them to other daring acts, like trying to climb up into his booster seat by himself. You know, before he loses any teeth, or eyes, or before anyone gets the wrong idea and sends the authorities my way.  In the meantime, I'll just keep the ice and clothies in stock.