9-1-1

Well...the day started off fine.


Kris and Melissa left this morning and I knew I had to get Connor and Carly out of the house, away from Matt and the germs. (Although I have still been spraying the disinfectant religiously. Can you become obsessed with that stuff?) Anyway, I decided not to take them to the Children's Museum because I thought that would be germ-filled also. I needed a fun outdoor activity. The Stony Point water "fountain" was the solution! I immediately called my friend, Courtney, who was supposed to join us for a playdate this morning, suggested that she not come over, and invited her to come along with her two little ones.

They met us there, and the kids had fun running through the "geysers" and getting wet. There was an unusually small crowd there, maybe only 5 other kids and their parents. The kids ate their lunches, played some more, and Courtney and I got a chance to talk a little. Everything was going great...

As we were talking, I noticed Connor playing behind the bench, near the metal fence, but didn't pay much attention to him. Until I heard him crying. When I looked at him, I noticed that his head was stuck between the rungs of the fence. Of course, I ran behind the bench and over to him, trying to squeeze his ears close to his face and at the same time, pulling his head back through the fence. It wouldn't come back through. It had to come through...he pushed his head through the same two rungs...he must be able to pull it back. One would think! After a number of repeated attempts, and deep breaths, Connor continued yelling in panic telling me that I needed to call the fire department (I was very impressed by that!). I was sure that I could get him out without needing the fire department!


I, feeling superwoman-like, tried pulling the metal bars apart from each other in an attempt to give Connor a little more room to free himself. Believe it or not, the bars actually gave a little. I was pulling with all of my strength, coaching Connor. No luck!


God bless Courtney, who was doing such a great job keeping her two children and Carly occupied and away from the "scene" and the sweet mother sitting on another bench nearby, who came to help. She and I tried to put our strength together and pull on the bars (metal, mind you!). They were moving. Although they were moving, Connor was still too upset, and not listening to us as we tried to coach him out. Finally, I decided to go around to the opposite side of the fence, so he could see me. I would calm and coach, while Courtney and sweet woman, pulled the bars apart. IT WORKED!!! Connor was rescued.


After hugging and comforting him (he was comforting me too, although he didn't know it), and taking a number of deep breaths, we decided we'd had enough excitement for the day and headed home. WOW! Beware of the fence at Stony Point!

THE fence