...one fell off and broke his head.

Sometimes I do feel like I have a couple of little monkeys jumping on the bed, the couch, the chairs, the stairs, you name it. Caden and Cooper love to jump and climb and do all of the normal little boy things. Cooper has just figured out how to climb up onto the bar stools and onto the kitchen counter. He is a climber, and I am always calling him my little monkey. Yesterday, Coop was sitting on a stool at the counter eating a strawberry. I left the room for a minute and heard a big thud! At first I thought Cooper might have fallen, but I didn't hear any crying, so I figured he must have just pushed a box off of the counter onto the floor. After about five seconds, I heard him start to cry really softly, so I went into the kitchen and he was laying on the floor crying louder and louder. I didn't see what happened, but I think he must have stood up on the stool to reach for the box of strawberries and the stool probably swiveled out from under him. I felt so terrible for not being there. I think he must have been knocked unconscious for a few seconds.

He just wanted to be held, so I held him for about a half hour while he cried really hard. I could tell he was hurting but I couldn't tell where. At that point, he looked normal. He finally cried himself to sleep in my arms, and I put him in his crib. I heard him crying 45 minutes later and when I went to get him he had a huge lump on the side of his head. This is when I got really nervous!

I called the Dr. and they said to come in. He sent us to the hospital for a skull x-ray. It showed that Cooper had a "pretty significant" fracture in his frontal bone that continued into the temporal bone. The Dr. was concerned about brain trauma and damage to the artery behind the temporal bone, so they did a CT scan. Thankfully, it showed just a small amount of blood right at the fracture, but no bleeding in the brain or damage to the artery. We were also relieved that the bones of the skull had not been knocked out of place and damaged his brain that way. Cooper cried most of the day, and screamed during the x-rays and CT scan. It was so hard having to hold him down while he screamed. I know the noise that the scanner made really scared him. They taped his head to the headboard to try and keep him still, and that really scared him too. I felt so bad! After we got home, he cheered up a little bit and even started running around and playing. The Dr. said to watch him really carefully through the night and bring him in Monday for a check-up. We have to be really careful for about a month that he doesn't hit his head or fall again. No climbing, jumping, or anything like that. That's going to be the hard part!

I feel terrible that this happened, and even worse that I wasn't right there to pick him up. He is getting lots of snuggles and hugs and kisses, though (when he holds still long enough)! We love this little monkey of ours! It's been hard to see him in pain, but we hope he'll feel better soon. We feel so blessed that his brain is OK and his skull will recover. We know this accident could have been much worse. I think grandpa Griffin must have been watching out for him! We are so thankful! I have to say, though, I hope next week is really boring!!!