The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Actually, it was just a quick moment, that I wish I could undo, that made the rest of the day terrible…This is a post I would rather not write. I feel really, really, really, REALLY awful and guilty and like the worst mother ever. I wish I could just hide all the evidence and make it all better. But I can’t, so I’ll just face up to it and explain why, when you meet my son anytime during the next 8 or so years, he looks like a hillbilly. It’s because he has an inattentive mother.
He fell down our four wooden stairs. We live in a multi-level house and these four stairs are right in the middle. You can’t block them off with a gate because there aren’t walls—just banisters that are not parallel. So I blocked them off with a barstool then got distracted. It's a horrible feeling hearing your kid cry out and knowing immediately what happened and that you should have prevented it.
He must have hit his mouth right on the edge of a stair because there were no bumps anywhere else. He was gushing blood. I dropped the girls off at a neighbor’s and took Fred to the pediatric dentist. They took an x-ray that revealed that he had lost 3 teeth. Chloe had found two on the floor but I didn’t know about the top tooth (he may have swallowed it). He just cut a fourth tooth last week and that one is fine. There is nothing they can do. When he is older we can get a retainer for cosmetic purposes if we feel the need. Dan’s dad is a dentist and called me. He tried to make me feel better by telling me that it doesn’t take much force to knock out baby teeth because there are no roots. It didn’t work because I can see his fat lip and the dark, bloody, jagged holes where his cute little teeth used to be. And in case you are wondering, he will still be able to say ‘Sister Susie sitting on a thistle’. Since he hasn’t learned to speak with teeth he will be able to learn to speak correctly without. I’m just hoping he’ll continue to nurse.

I’m including a video so you can see that he is still alive and well. He continues to put everything in his mouth and to pull himself up on things. I'm so worried that he'll bump his mouth.

p.s. I’m not fishing for ‘good mother’ compliments or ‘it could have happened to anyone.’
p.p.s. Don’t call me. Call Dan’s cell if you have questions. I really don’t feel like talking about it. I already dread the millions of times I’m going to have to explain it in the next 8 years.

Sorry Fred!