Shannon Park - Dublin - 8/10

About a month ago we went to this awesome park in Dublin. It is a bit of a drive for us, but it had a water feature / fountain to play in, and one of my Meet-up groups was heading there.In addition to the water feature, Shannon Park has an amazing play structure. Slides, climbing, and tubes all Holly favorites.This is the toddler structure, a little more manageable for Holly to climb and play on without help. The thing is, it was a very hot day, so she wasn't too excited about doing much besides playing in the water.And of course swinging on the swings. This is a little bonnet that she got from her Oma to help keep the sun off her face and head.But the Main attraction was this water feature. Holly was roaring to go and wanted to try it out. There were three steps down into the deepest section and holding my hand she climbed down without a second thought and was walking and exploring and trying to check out the fountain. She was doing so well and the water was only up to her waist I decided to take a seat and let her play. You can see from this picture I was maybe 8 feet away from her.Well she was having a wonderful time, until she fell. In the next picture you can see how she is starting to loose her balance. I think it was a combination of the wind, and a strong water current from the waterfall. Also I think she was a bit over confident and didn't realize that it takes extra skill to walk in water. She fell to the side and went under, she would normally have caught herself on her hands and knees and stood up, but I think the shock of being under she sort of flipped around onto her back and was struggling to "float"She was kicking her legs and waving an arm but her Bonnet was heavy with water and was pulling her down backwards and making it hard to keep her head out, her face was out of the water, but her ears were under and she was on her back which she really dislikes. This all happened in a matter of a few seconds before I was at her side and scooped her up. She seemed to have swallowed a little water but was fine by the time I reached her and was really just scared.I don't have a lot of pictures from the rest of the day because my camera got submerged when I went to rescue her, as I was holding it taking pictures when it happened. Once she was relatively calm i made her a bottle and we sat and took a soothing break. I took out the battery and memory card from the camera and let them dry in the sun. After her bottle she was ready to play again. I was worried the camera was permanently damaged but it eventually dried completely out.
We went back to the tubes she was playing in earlier. In the tubes it was shaded and she was damp from playing in the water, so she did do some climbing. And had fun, but she was leery of going back to the water.It was very important to me that she not be traumatized by this event however so I made several attempts to re acclimate her. First I just walked by the water, and that was enough, but then i sat on the ledge near the waterfall. Then I let her splash in the waterfall.We would take a break. On the other side of the park was an amazing sand pit with a ton of sand toys. I didn't get any pictures because of the waterlogged Camera, but we filled some buckets with water that she splashed, in the sand, and we went to the waterfall to fill them.Over the next two hours we slowly got reacquainted. At first she would walk along the first step. Holding mommy's hand. The water there was about 4 inches deep. Next she would sit on that step with her feet on the lower one, maybe 9 inches or so and splash. Eventually she stood and walked along that step, holding Mommy's hand. Finally she went back into the deepest part. For a while holding my hand, and then eventually she was confident again and pushed me away. But I stayed close, right behind her in fact. She did have to self correct her balance a few times due to the water flow, and I would hold her hand to make sure she didn't fall again. Eventually she was splashing int he waterfall and running all around, and happy. It took a while, and several breaks on the swing and slide and sand pit and back to the blanket to chat with the to her moms and have a snack. But eventually we did it. Sadly I got to spend precious little time talking to the other mom's as there kids were older and could go off and play on there own, and they were able to talk. I had to follow Holly all around the park. But I didn;t mind, in fact that's the best part of it, getting to watch her play and see her discover and learn.Slides - 1 - There were several but it was too hot to go down many except the tube slides, and those she can;t do yet without help.

Swings - 1 - Yes - They were a life savor of comfort.

Surface - 1/2 - There is sand, grass, and sidewalk. Bu the structures are basically in a sandy tree bark mix.

Shade - 1/2` - The water area is actually very shaded but the play structures were not, and they were hot. The sand area was also not shaded but it wasn't too hot. We did find a place to sit under a tree with our quilt and our group.

Climbing - 1 - Lots of climbing in the older structure and even in the water area.

Parking - 1 - Very large lot near the various play structures easy to park.

Bathrooms - 1 - There were both bathrooms and a place to rinse off if you were covered in sand different from the water feature.

Distance - 0 - I think ti took me about 35 minutes. We had a great time, but it would't be a regular outing.

Friends - 1 - So many kids in addition to the moms and kids from out meet-up group.Amoung the moms we hung out with were Georgina and Janelle F.

Fun - 1- except for our scary fall it was a lot of fun.

Krushi Park Alameda - 7.5/10

This is a cool little park we recently discovered in Alameda called Krusi Park. It is a lot of fun, but sure was an adventure getting there. Now I know where it is, it will be easier next time.This park is huge and attached to a school, the GPS and official park Address bring you to a street on the far side of the football and baseball fields, far from the play ground.When we went to the park we were meeting my Alameda meet-Up group for a play date which I think began at like 10:30, we were already running late. Getting off the Highway the High Street Bridge was closed, and we had to take a major detour, once we arrived at the destination, we were utterly lost.I circled the park (several blocks) looking for a playground. I saw one group of Children but they were in a day camp. it is really hard to see this AWESOME playground form the road, and it is actually hidden behind a school on one side and a row of houses on the other.The entrance we finally found on the Opposite side of where we were was actually a maintenance driveway and when i pulled in I could see the playground. by this time, Holly had fallen asleep in the car and I didn't want to wake her, but I was meeting a group, and an hour late...So I parked in the maintenance driveway left the car door open, and walked over the the park entrance, I could see my car from there, and looked for people I could recognize. Many of the mom's I had not met before, but after I few minutes I found Melanie, and told her I'm here!I discovered that due to the unusually cold weather and windiness that most of the group were leaving and heading home out of the cold, so that I should not wake Holly, and we could all play another day.I ended up driving to a drive through and getting myself some lunch and then reading emails in the car for about another 90 minutes and then Holly woke up. We ran some errands, like returning the Child gates we bought to use in Mendocino, and get some supplies. By then it was much sunnier, though still a nice breeze, and I decided to head back to this park. it looked like a lot of fun.Holly made friends easily and played in the sand with her new bucket. This was only 3 dollars at Walmart, the nearest one to me is in San Leandro, but it was actually pretty close to this park, since the park is on the far side of Alameda.It was a bit of a challenge to share the bucket, as all the kids wanted to play with it, and Holly doesn't quite get the concept of sharing yet. One baby got so upset when it was time to leave and her mommy said she couldn't take the bucket with her that she had a full on tantrum. I almost wanted to just give it to her, but I didn't.The park also had baby swings near the big kid playground..The ground here was Tree bark, so I had to put Holly's shoes on her. Even though I had to keep a close eye on her, she actually enjoyed climbing on this structure too. She would hike up the bridge, then sit and side down the other side... Silly girl. I thought it was great practice for her, and I simply spotted her but mostly let her do it on her own. She is still learning about walking up and down "hills"This was another type of bridge that sloped down in the middle and moved when you walked over it, and Holly had a lot of fun on it too. Mommy stood on one side and it would make her go up or down depending on where I was standing which was a lot of fun. I also thought it was pretty impressive that she was walking and climbing and playing with her little snack trap, but she did not want to give it up. I should note though, that Holly did have one spill. She was in a little area with a diagonal platform that had one opening of a tube and another opening of a side and she had been climbing up and down the platform and in and out of the tube like 30 times. But then, for some reason, a bird chirping, the little boy sitting on the slide near her, she wasn't paying attention and walked right over the edge and fell down the step and bumped her head. I was right there, but couldn't get to her right away. I ended up climbing up the slide to get to her, but a mom on the side, through the rail helped sit her up while I climbed, and then I sat and hugged and rocked her until she was all better. She was fine, just scared, but it goes to show, she just doesn't pay attention all the time and I have to be vigilant with my calling out and reminding her of steps and edges. When we were ready to get down, a dad helped me out by catching her at the bottom of the slide, and then I climbed down.One of her favorite things, as you can tell by the pictures above is climbing through these tubes. I think they are a lot of fun, and we play peek-a-boo through the windows.Eventually she made her way back to the sand area and found other toys to play with when other kids were "sharing" her bucket. I think it is really cute how much she likes dump trucks, but she seems very drawn to them, whenever we see them on a playground in the sand she runs over dumps the sand out and takes fists of sand to fill it back up. Sometimes she even pushes them around like they are driving in the sand, but not often.Slides - 1 - There were many slides, on the tot structure they were small enough for her to do on her own, and on the big kid one, with a little help.

Swings - 1 - Yes, and she made good use of them!

Surface - 1 - I am giving this a 1 because the tot structure had bouncy turf and a fun sand pit. The big kid structure had the tree bark that I didn't like, but then again we don't have to play over there, and the tot area is fenced in, so I don't have to worry about her wondering to the other play area.

Shade - 1/2 - Most of the park is not shaded and the bouncy ground was hot on your feet. there was however picnic tables in a shaded area where you could go to get out of the sun and have lunch or a snack.

Climbing - 1 - there was a lot of stuff to climb on, and it was especially popular for the slightly older kids to climb on that beautiful dragon and jump into the sand, so there will be more for her to do as she gets older.

Parking - 1/2 - There is street parking, and it is pretty shady too, but it isn't super close to the playground, and it might be tougher to find at a high traffic time.

Bathrooms - 0 - Not anywhere near where we were playing, maybe in the school, but we wouldn't have access.

Distance - 1/2 - Although this trip took us like 40 minutes, with no traffic and an opened bridge, I could get there in 15 so I will give it a 1/2 point.

Friends - 1 - Lots of kids and moms to meet and chat with. Plus a popular place for my play group.

Fun - 1- lots of fun, Holly had an amazing time.

The Bad Day Saga

So it all started on Sunday night, Joel and Holly took a long long nap and woke up around 6:00 Holly was a little cranky when she woke up, but it was all good. We decided we were in a lazy mood and by 7:00 ordered Pizza. It arrived about a quarter to 8:00 and we started eating. The sometime in the next 20 minutes Joel headed to the bathroom.

Holly had been stalking my pizza for a while so I was grateful for the break when she followed Joel. When he was finished he was shutting the door to keep her out of the bathroom and she was pushing against the door. He heard a whine and felt a little resistance, and thought she was annoyed that he was trying to keep her out of the bathroom, and simply pushing the door, but then we heard the scream, and realized her finger was pinched in the door jam.

I jumped up from the floor and ran and picked her up. She was howling, and her finger looked squashed and I started to freak. Joel ran to get ice and we immediately tried to put it on her finger. He finger looked sort of deformed and pinched and she wasn't moving it and she was still screaming so we decided to go to the emergency room.

The problem... The car seat was upstairs and in pieces because we had washed it the night before. I started to gather my stuff, insurance card, cell phone, keys and Joel desperately tried to get the car seat together. First I called her pediatrician's cell phone and she didn't answer. Then I called the office to get the on call doctor and left a message saying we were heading to the ER. I wasn't sure if I should go to Children's or Alta Bates, but I decided to head to children.

We were in the car off and driving and I finally called the insurance company advice nurse to find out if I needed some kind of authorization before going to the hospital. But we arrived before the picked up the line, so we pulled into the 5 minute parking and went into triage. Holly was still crying, I would say it was less then a howl, but it was quite a cry still, and then the waiting began. The triage nurse took our names and a two sentence description of our problem and then sent us to the waiting room.

It was so hard to calm Holly down because she couldn't use her hand so she couldn't entertain herself, she couldn't play, and she just didn't want to do anything but hold her arm up in the air. I changed her and I gave her a bottle, and those soothed her a bit, and she wanted to get down to walk around, but that didn't really make her happy either, because she was just miserable and in pain.

By now it was a quarter after 9:00 and the triage nurse called us back. She handed me the phone and it was my Doctor. She said that most likely Holly's finger was not broken, and that rather then spending hours in the ER we should go home, give Holly some pain meds, and come see her in the morning, if the finger was bad we could get a scheduled Xray the next day rather then waiting all night for one. and at most they would only tape holly's finger to the next one or splint it. But to verify with the triage nurse to see what she thought.

The triage nurse wasn't allowed to tell us to go home, but told me the wait would be several hours and that based on looking at Holly's finger's she thought I should follow my doctor's advice. So we left. We told the Doctor to call in the meds to the Walgreen's on telegraph but when we arrived at around 9:30 they were already closed, even though they used to be 24 hours, and the triage nurse said now they are open till midnight. I guess its midnight on weekdays and 9:00 on Sunday.

So I called my Doctor's cell phone and this time she picked up. I explained the situation, and there was a sign saying the nearest 24 hour Pharmacy was in Alameda, so I gave her the number to do the call in and wrote down the address. She wanted Holly to take some baby Tylenol with Codeine to stop the pain, in her words, it will hurt like a hornet, and make sure she sleeps through the night, since we had already been giving her Motrin for her molars coming in and she was waking up every night, she wanted her to have something stronger so she would get rest.

We realized that we didn't have the GPS, so we ran home to pick it up, grab a pacifier, and some yogurt juice to give Holly when we had the medicine. By now it was almost 10:00 and Holly had been crying for almost 90 minutes. She started to feel exhausted and fall asleep in a whimper and a whine. Since she now had her pacifier she was soothed and she was able to relax some. We had given her a plastic cup to play with a chew on, and she decided to use it to hold with her right hand and prop up her hurt left hand on it, so it would stay elevated. She had kept her hand elevated and not used it for anything for the entire 90 minutes and I am sure was getting tired. it is amazing though, the instinct to keep it up and secured.

By the time we arrived at Walgreen's she was asleep, and I went to the drive through to get the prescription. By now it was almost 11:00 and as a treat, Joel ran in to get half and half for morning coffee and some ice cream for when we got home. Mommy needed a bit of a break and a treat for her recovery of this trauma.

We got home and carried Holly up in the car seat and hoped she would stay asleep long enough for me to get my barrings, but she woke up before I had a chance to eat my ice cream. So I picked her up, we made some yogurt juice bottle with the Tylenol and codeine and we laid in bed and she drank her bottle. by midnight she was asleep.

Around 1:00 Joel finished washing bottles and had taken a shower and decided to transfer Holly to her crib. She was knocked out and didn't even stir, nor had we heard any coughing, so we were glad she was getting a little rest.

We were both amped up with Adrenalin, but it was dissipating fast. Joel went to bed, but I was antsy and needed to unwind. I read blog post, and posted my submission to I Heart Faces, and generally read email and face book posts, when I realized it was almost 5:00 am. So off to bed I went.

Holly was awake by 9:00. The night before I called and left Katie a voice mail cancelling our morning therapy session, first I thought Holly's hand would still be sore, and I wasn't sure she would be awake in time. Joel said she was pretty groggy, until about 9:30.

I woke up at around 10:00 and called the doctor to get an appointment. They asked that I go in to the Orinda office at 10:45, so I was up and running and out the door, with Joel's help by 10:30. I dropped him off and then not 5 minutes later I was sitting on the side of the road with a flat tire. It was 11:00 before the woman at triple A had a clear understanding of where I was, I was in the parking lot at Point Emery, which is a road with no street name, off of frontage road. Once she finally knew where to tell them to go, it only took about twenty minutes, and then another twenty or so to change the tire, so by a quarter to 12:00, we were off to Big O Tire to get the tire fixed, and I had called the Doctor to reschedule for the afternoon.

My spare was bald and my flat had a nail, so I authorized two new tires at the price tag of around 180$ but to my surprise, they were able to repair the nail tire, and said I didn't need to replace the spare, it was good for a spare, so it ended up being 25$ Holly was cute but frustrating. She was sick of being in the stroller, after sitting in the car seat and wanted to walk around. I let her and she was fine int he waiting room, but she somehow has learned to run, and enjoyed trying to run to the front door and then out into the parking lot, and off to the street.

Of course I was by her side, made sure she was safe, and stopped her before she got to the street, but she saw the medium with grass and wanted to go and play. She saw the "edge" on the sidewalk and wanted to sit and climb down, and didn't understand why Mommy wouldn't let her go. I would pick her up and carry her inside, and in about 7 seconds flat she was at the door looking back for me, and ready to run out again. About a quarter to 1:00 we picked up Joel with our repaired tires and headed home. he made me some lunch and I laid down with holly to give her a bottle and try and get her to nap. She refused and wanted to be up and playing.

So around a quarter to 2:00 we dropped Joel off to work, and headed to the Doctor. She fell asleep in the car. I let her sleep as long as I could, and transferred her in the car seat to the stroller and into the office, but they were ready to see us right away so i had to wake her after a 45 minute nap.

The Doctor said her finger was fine. It of course hurt, and was swollen and black and blue and she might loose her nail, but she did not need an Xray, and after a night's rest it wasn't looking as squished and deformed as the night before. Then I asked about her cough. The Doctor checked her ears and her chest and her nose, and said she was not sick, it was indeed allergies and there is little I can do. She suggested giving her 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon of Dimatap or Children's Benadryl each night before bed. She said that if I am just giving it to her once a day, I can give it to her indefinitely, and I may have to, as long as it is allergy season. Of course checking all the normals, dust, allergens, pollen, and making sure we have eliminated them all.

Since out well visit was in a week and we covered our issues pretty fast, she decided to do the check up now and save us another visit and co-pay. Everyone was so excited to see Holly and several of the nurses stopped by to see her, the doctor was so impressed with her strength, and her agility and her walking and social mood! In the end, at around 3:00 she had to get her shots, this was unexpected, and she was very unhappy about it.

After I soothed her with some more yogurt juice, and decided to head to our play date and see how she would hold up. She was cranky to be confined to the car seat again and fussing. But we arrived at 4:00 and she was eager and excited to play.

Squished finger, band aids from her shots, and cranky as all get out, she was happy as a peach to see the other babies at Chloe's and played and played. We stayed until about 6:30 and then went to get Daddy. She fell asleep, exhausted and I think the trauma from the last day finally hit her. She slept until almost 8:00 while we ran errands, went to the pharmacy to get her allergy medications, and to Trader Joe's to get some new baby snacks and supplies. She woke up in pain, cranky, fussy, and grumpy. She ate and wanted to sit and lay on Momma's lap until about 9:00 we had watched several baby Einstein episodes. She was pitiful.

Finally she was ready to play, but it was a empty effort, she was cranky and by 10:00 crying and ready for sleep. So we dosed her bottle and laid down with her, she woke up twice, and was sleeping restlessly until about 11:00 when the meds kicked in. Joel headed off to bed at midnight, transferring her, and she was sound asleep.

Hopefully our Saga is over, and tomorrow will be a brighter day. What is amazing, is through it all, she is such a happy baby underneath, she tries to keep a smile on her face, and stay enthusiastic when possible, it is amazing.

Goose Egg

It looks much much worse then it is. Holly fell yesterday playing in the living room. She climbed into a plastic tub and then tried to climb out. Since she had no problem climbing in (I watched her) I figured she could get out the same way and sat back down. But when she climbed out it tipped. She was about the height of a kneel and the thump wasn't even very loud but I guess she landed bad. I jumped up and lifted her and cradled her and she stopped crying in like 30 seconds. The I noticed this. A ballooned lump the size of a golf ball. I started to freak.I made Joel look it up and he discovered it was something called a Goose Egg. It is something very minor according to the web and they warn you not to be alarmed at how quickly it grows. It is simply broken blood vessels on the surface that puddle and with slight pressure and some ice they disperse and the swelling goes down. So after learning this, about 2 minutes had passed and I got some Ice but for about a minute or two she would cry and pull it off her head. I had several teethers at this point trying to get a circle shape that I could surround the lump with, so by now she would pull the teether and chew on it, her teeth were bothering her more then her head, so she let the ice stay.About 16 hours later this is her head. You can see the slight discoloration but there isn't a lump really anymore. Its there, when you look down from the top, you can see her forehead is a little misshapen, but from the side its not there, so it has shrunk about 80% It is amazing how fast kids heal, and I suspect that by tomorrow it will be completely gone. When it happened for her the ordeal took less then 5 minutes, it was much more traumatic for mommy. She bounced right back. I guess this is her first "real" fall of many she will do learning to walk, climb, jump, and run. Scrapes and bumps are in my future, and from her track record, I think there will be many.

Traumatic Thursday

So on Thursday we decided to head into the city for a Mom's Movie in the afternoon. It was free and they were showing Duplicity. That Morning mom had to get some blood tests done left the house early and spent almost two hours waiting in the clinic and had 7 vials taken, with two pricks... Daddy made her some breakfast and then we were all off. Holly had gotten up late and was given her bottle in hopes of falling asleep in the car ride to the city, and then hopefully to nap for some of the movie.

We arrived on Chestnut street near the Presido Theatre at around noon, and it took only about 10 minutes to wait for parking just across the street. Holly had fallen asleep only a few minutes earlier at around 11:45. The movie was scheduled to stat at 1:00 but mom was eager to get in and settled. After a few minutes she saw some other mom's with there babies and decided to gather her stuff to go into the theatre. It was around 12:30 and the second the car door opened Holly woke from her nap. We strolled over to the theatre and found the doors were still closed with a sign stating they didn't open until 1:30.. Confused mom saw the other mother's in a cafe next door and went in to ask if they knew anything. They also though the movie was starting at 1:00 but said the doors open only minutes before. So Mom orders OJ and a bagel, Holly had some Banana and Cherrio's and we waited.

Once the doors opened we went inside and found we would be in Theatre two, up a flight of stains, non accessible, which meant no stroller. So we parked in the lobby and gathered all our stuff. Mom was hoping to have the stroller and basket for help but managed. The screen was about 15 feet off the ground and couldn't really be seen from the first 5 rows, so we settled in the second section first row off to the side. There was a lot of floor space here and another baby was already comfy on her quilt playing. There was a bar in front off us and then the other seats below. The bar went above Holly's waits, to around her armpits and she decided to use it for some cruising back and forth from mom to the side wall. We spread out her blanket and toys and she began to explore and play.

She was being very well behaved, not fussing and having fun with her toys.. But then she decided she wanted to throw them. First went some sticky beads, and then a few minutes later went her Loopy Toy. This was about 30 minutes into the film. I looked over the ledge hoping it was simply on the seat in front of us but Alas, it was down below in the concrete floor behind the seat. I handed holly another toy and told her we would have to get the loopy toy after the movie. She seemed contented to play again and so I resumed to watch the film. She had previously been cruising and crawling around the entire area safely so I was not worried but then, next thing I know I saw her feet in the air and I jumped to out to reach them but I wasn't fast enough. I remember hearing a shrill scream and thinking ok, this is a good thing, she is crying. I thought this as I was leaping over the bar and down onto the seat below and then to the floor. I remember seeing her there behind the seat and I tried to reach her from the floor.

The dad in the row in front of us, also jumped up to my assistance. he too tried to pull her out but she seemed stuck. I remember I was sobbing hysterically and I was telling Holly it was ok, Momma is right here. The dad looked over the seat to try and get her but could not reach. I remember in the background someone said turn on the lights, go get help and then another mom came and was able to squeeze down behind the seats also. From this vantage point she could bend down far enough to pick up Holly. When I tried to get her from underneath I felt that one leg was up and I had been trying to straiten it out.

As soon as she would out and handed to me I rushed into the lobby holding her tight, I felt her relax a bit and though still screaming her cry softened. I was able to rub her back and head and she began to calm. I realized how upset I was and put myself in check. She needed to see me calm, not frightened, so she would know everything would be ok. I remember thinking, her neck isn't broken, there is no blood.

The dad came out with me and I learned he was an EMT and had experience with Concussions. He felt and moved her arms and legs and checked her neck. He looked at her back and head and so far everything seemed to be ok. She was beginning to calm down and we brought her to the light to make sure she was reactive. her pupils went tight and then back in the hall large again. From what he could tell there was no concussion. I found two little lumps on the left side of her head, one had a little scratch but they weren't even that big. The dad went to get me some ice, which she wasn't happy about and thing started to settle down.


I knew she needed a bottle so we went back into the theater to get my bag and we sat and I made her a bottle. She lied in my lap and drank. It was actually at this point that another woman, the wife came out and explained her husband was an EMT and what the Pupil dilation thing meant and what to look out for. Once Holly finished her bottle she was almost back to her old self. I knew her head still hurt at that point because she would begin to cry every time i tried to put ice on her bump. I let her crawl and cruise around climbing through the maze of strollers. The theatre was packed, there must have been over 100 mom's with there babies anywhere from new born to 4 or 5. Once I saw signs of my Holly I relaxed a little and began to sob and try to piece together what had happened. It was all a blur to me, but I realized that she must have stepped on Kylee the other baby to get enough leverage to go over the bar. She had seen me lean over to look for her toy, and well at home she is pretty fearless and dives head first into her ball pit. I think in the end it was a godsend that she fell between the seat and the wall because I am sure that slowed her down. The drop was around 4 feet, similar to as if she had went head first out of her crib, but onto concrete.

All of our stuff was still inside spread out by our seat and I went in to begin to gather our things. The dad helped me. Then I sat for a while longer in the lobby letting her cruise around and called the doctor. The Dad said she seemed fine but if it were his kid he would want the clinic to check her out to be sure, and well he wasn't a pediatrician.

I called and they asked if she lost consciousness, no i said. How far did she fall they asked. 3-4 feet. Did she vomit. No I replied. Are her pupils responsive to light they asked. yes I told them.. Well she seems fine, no need to bring her in they said. If she vomits, give us a call, once is ok, more then once we need to check her out. Can she sleep i asked, I am 30 minutes from home and it's her nap time, she will fall asleep in the car, do I need to keep her awake. Yes she can sleep they said. make sure her sleep patterns are normal and she isn't excessively sleep and that she can be aroused. and that was it. They didn't even seem to think it was much of a big deal, and i suppose compared to falling from a window it wasn't but for me, it was horrifying.

I strapped Holly into the car seat and we went for a walk around the block, I held the ice on her head and she didn't seem to mind it at all now, she was comfortable and apparently seemed to had already forgotten all about her fall. After a few minutes I decided she had been awake long enough and I put her into the car and headed home.

The traffic was bad, and she fell asleep right away. About ten minutes into her nap I reached back and started shaking her car seat, she growled at me, very unhappy, but I smiled. She was aroused, and I let her drift back into a slumber. She rested almost an hour while I sat in traffic. I didn't want to call and tell Joel the story until we got home so he could see her right away, which is what I did once we got over the bridge, it was just about his break time and I had him come out and meet us, so he could see her happy and cheerful in the car, and then I told him about our traumatic day.