Monkey Minus Instincts

Doesn't it seem that the one person who does something dangerous is the last person on earth who should be doing it?? Okay, let me explain. Lex was born with a tumor in his cheek and has had many surgeries costing countless dollars to try to make his face look more symmetrical. I have always let my kids do what they felt they were capable of. I have never tried to lead them in any particular direction. My philosophy is, I only have them for a short time they have themselves for the rest of their lives. So maybe they should develop into what they want to be, not what I want them to be. It may backfire on me, but I don't want to have regrets that I should or shouldn't have done this or that with them. When I see they have an interest I try to support it as best I can. With five it's hard, but I try. Lex has never been the most coordinated child. Until recently you could bet that if he started running he would be down on the ground within a few dozen steps. It has never bothered him. He just gets right back up and keeps running, for awhile, anyway. I think he is a very resilient kid and I am very proud of how he took all of his hospitalizations in stride and never once complained about anything. Although now if I ask him about his surgeries he says he doesn't remember any of them which I'm sure is a good thing. After his last one as they were wheeling him down the hallway to his room I asked him how he was and he said, The princess is in the castle and she is beautiful"! Gimme some of whatever he's got! Sounds like a pretty happy place. Anyway, my point is, he has taken a liking to anything that makes my heart pound. He hangs from the very highest point on the monkey bars, does a little tightrope walking very near the top of the jungle gym, and likes to yell, "Hey mom look at me" from every precarious place imaginable. I realize when I was his age I did all of those things too. None of my three older kids are willing or able, I'm not sure which, to do them. I don't know if I am just being overprotective or if I am convinced that because of his apparent lack of coordination he is destined to end up back in the hospital. Today he was jumping from the platform of the play set to one of those zip line type deals and flying across to the other side. The little jumps were fine but then he had the thing in the middle and went to jump and fell flat on his face in the wood chips. It was at that moment I had flashbacks to the day I broke my arm. I was doing almost the same thing, minus a couple of safety improvements they've made mandatory in playgrounds since then. One being those wood chips, but any way I remember having such a blast and one jump later I was on the ground wind knocked out of me with an arm that looked like a noodle. At least had something happened to Lex today I was here. When I fell, my parents weren't home and I had to walk home with my arm flopping. Well, halfway anyway, one of the neighbors, I don't remember which one, saw me and took me to the hospital. About three hours later my mom showed up to finally give them permission to treat me. Then she demanded that they call in a specialist so I don't think I got into surgery until well after midnight. Oh, memories!! I told Lex that what he was doing was reminding mommy of when she broke her arm doing almost the exact same thing and he thankfully stopped. I know he'll do more crazy stuff thinking he invincible like all kids do amd he might yet end up in the ER, but hopefully he will be luckier that his mommy was. It's perfectly fine to be as active as a monkey, but a monkey without the proper instincts better have good insurance!