Miracles...

Every once in a while you hear about a scary child mishap when everyone is sitting around the dinner table swapping stories. They usually happen to a friend of a friend. You see them on shows like Dateline and 20/20. You might even see the results of really bad mishaps on fictional shows like Grey's Anatomy. Well....so begins our story.

I have innocently worked with Roanin on the little 5-rung wooden ladder that goes to the top of his slide in the yard on nice days in the past month or so. He hasn't seemed to be particularly good at it. In fact, he has only wobbly accomplished the darn thing maybe once since we have tried. No big deal....no pressure.

Fast forward to today. It was a pretty day outside, although a little cool. Roanin has had a really rowdy respiratory thing going on, for which the doctor put him on some steroids. Although he feels pretty bad, these steroids are like TODDLER CRACK. I don't know if you have ever seen a 2-year-old on them, but OH MY GOSH...it is crazy. He suddenly perks up, and literally runs from one side of the house to the other just hysterically laughing and screaming and seems to not even be able to burn all the energy he has. This is a small bit of information that might perhaps shed light on the insane thing that happened late in the afternoon.

My parents came over to check on the little man, and to see how the construction around the house is going. We are all outside, and everything is going great. My mom asks to see the new upstairs bedroom, so we climb the huge extension ladder to see it while the guys agree to watch Roanin and stay down below. Once up there, my dad needed a quick window measurement, and he threw me the tape measure. I measured, and proceeded to tell him the opening was 40 inches and "...three little black marks" to which he and Shawn began to get the biggest kick out of because of my inability to read the tape measure correctly. Whatever....who really cares if it is 3/8ths or 3/16ths....blah blah blah. All I knew was it was definitely 3 little black marks.

Roanin, meanwhile, has by this time noticed that his Mommy and Grandmom are up in on the second floor of the new building. Curiously, Roanin went from the back of the house where the guys were to the front of the house, which had already been covered with plywood (hence, hidden from the overseeing adults). Here he found the sixteen foot extension ladder resting wobbly on the side of the the building.

I am not sure if it was the 2, maybe 3 simple ladder lessons given to him by yours truly, or that stinkin' toddler crack he is on, but Roanin then decided to take it upon himself to go see my mom and I. BY HIMSELF. Within the minute and a half that the ridicule of non-carpenter-Sarah lasted, Roanin climbed the entire ladder and was on the second rung from the top. Shawn by this time had started looking for the little guy...although not frantically because he never dreamed what he would find. He came around the front corner of the house, and was surprised to not see him. Of course, he was using the traditional method of looking on the ground. While turning to go back, he just happened to look up and saw Roanin putting his foot on the next rung. His first instinct was to scream for him...followed shortly with a vision of what that would do. So, as quickly as humanly possible, Shawn scaled the ladder in silence trying to reach him. Of course, Roanin felt the shifty ladder move as Daddy got on. Shawn said he simply just looked down at his Daddy and held on. Somehow...Shawn and about 4000 guardian angels reached my little man, at which time my mom and I look over and see them both level with us.

Several miracles happened in that few crazy minutes. Miraculously, Roanin didn't skip a step, trip, fall or let go and climbed the entire extension ladder with barely a sound. Miraculously, he didn't break his head, neck, an arm, a leg or his whole body. Miraculously, Shawn kept his composure and did EXACTLY the right thing. Miraculously, upon finding out what just happened, I did not immediately deliver an 18 week fetus on the floor of the new bedroom in our house. And perhaps most miraculous of all....we still own that damn ladder (which is against my better judgement.) The next most miraculous thing is that I am not seriously contemplating selling what is left of Roanin's steriods on the street for some serious cash.