The Storm in a Teacup...

I_had what was, without a doubt my most frightening parenting experience, and Liams most frightening painful experience, to date over the weekend when he poured a hot cup of tea over his face and shoulder that I had left on the railing of our balcony in a spot I thought he couldn't reach (he shot up a cm or two while we were away). Very, very luckily he wasn't badly burnt, first degree only which means redness, no blisters. I got him under a cold shower within seconds, and it is folklore that I steep my tea with until its as dark as the devils soul and always have it with milk so it wasn't as hot as it could have been. In fact apart from a small stick on bandage on his on his shoulder, 24 hours after it happened there was almost no sign of it happening.

In all honesty, I can say that I really thought for a few minutes that I'd really fucked up good and proper, that he might be scarred for life as other kids are from the same experience. In fact Saads and I had been discussing this a day or so earlier - the child of someone she works with does is scarred from the exact same thing happening. The thing about parenting is that you are responsible not only for your life, but for the life of your child until they are equipped to make certain decisions in their own right. When you make a poor judgement on their behalf or in relation to them the consequences can be huge - and on an occassion such as this you have an enormous sense of just how huge the consequences could be from a small action. So thats just a little slice of parenting, from the tough side, you can but learn from these things.

Theres a few little things that will stay with me for long time from this experience, one is Liam shivering and shouting "Bye!...bye!" and waving at the shower - with his limited vocab and being as distraught as he was it was the only way he could tell me that he didn't want to go under the cold shower again. A moment like that makes you realise you love them more than anything else on earth. Another is Saady getting home a few minutes after I called her to tell her what had happened and swinging into action like the superwoman she is, once again affirming for me that I am the luckiest man alive - thanks to you my love. And finally, after we had wrapped him in a sheet and run down the road and across the local stream to the emergency medical centre, I'll long remember Liam cheering right up and describing all the objects in the room, at which point I asked Saad's if she thought he was delerious. A few minutes later though he was back in tears, this time though because he'd popped the balloon I'd made him from a surgical glove...

The photo pre-dates the weekends events, but the he's fine line is genuine.