We got Laurent the highchair awhile ago as I mentioned. Normally I *do* strap him in but because I was right there with the left side of the highchair literally touching the right arm of my chair I figured it was okay to leave the straps off. That is a mistake I won't make again.
Somehow in the second I bent down to pick up a toy he dropped he managed to stand up in it, which is the first time he's ever done so... and pitch himself over the right side - the opposite side from me. I saw a flash of movement, launched to catch him and heard the most horrifying thump before I could even fully get out of my chair. I think my heart stopped. I basically caught him just as he was hitting so he didn't fully hit but his side still managed to hit the ground.
He is fine before I freak anyone out besides myself. Not a scratch, not a bruise, had a cry for all of 15 seconds from being startled rather than hurt, flashed me a smile and wiggled to let me know he wanted to get down and play. I checked him over throughly. Kept an eye on him all afternoon just to be safe but... thank the stars, he's fine. He spent the rest of the day happy, playing, crawling, chucking crackers to Sierra, flirting with people at the grocery store, regaling daddy with tales of his adventures when he came home complete with his new tongue clicking noises and giggled in hysterics and bouncing while watching the dogs dancing around in the evening's Freestyle class. Meanwhile I've had at least 20 years scared off my life, I'm sure there's a whole new crop of grey hairs are sprouting as we speak, I'm still nauseous and get shaky thinking about it and I will never ever ever ever put him in a high chair without straps on again. The ironic thing is, I'm REALLY paranoid about falls... on the bed, couches, chairs, his daytime bassinette, change table etc. etc. Too many years of daycare kids in me. Even the highchair usually but I figured it was okay as I was right there and watching. :-(
On the "he's fine" note... he's starting to CLICK. He was watching me train and started making these little clicking noises with his mouth, like you use to signal a horse to trot or canter and chucking cracker. HOW FREAKING CUTE is my kid?!?!?!?!?!?!
We did have a really good time at Freestyle classes though. We got to watch the Level 3's a few weeks back and there are some freaking brilliant routines... really inspiring to see all the neat stuff people are getting their dogs to do and the amount of teamwork! I wasn't sure how Sierra would do but she gave nice attention, practiced "laying-on-my-mat-and-giving-eye-contact-even-when-other-dogs-are-bouncing-around-and-getting-treats" and had at least some experience with the other stuff that was done in the class. We're supposed to practice heel-work of course, teaching the dog to find the 'front' position relative to us regardless of our position, going through the legs from the front and back, the rock-back step and brush up on targeting. Nothing too hard. Si actually did better at the heel-work than I figured she'd do, even messily approximating staying in position when we did the rock-back steps. I was pretty happy with that and think all in all this will end up being a lot of fun for us. Two of my classmates also do Tracking, so I spoke to them about that as it was something I'd meant to start training for. Good bit of news, one of the ladies thinks there is a club in Blackburn North. Holy cow... you mean there's something dog-related that's not hella far away?!? Well paint me purple and call me Barney!
Also, I *think* I mentioned awhile back that on one of the Aussie lists, someone mentioned a herding day coming up with two chances to get passes for an Instinct Test at the end of the day. I lost my mind long enough to sign Sierra and I up for it. Well, it's coming up this Sunday and I'm starting to feel really nervous. I have a distinct feeling Sierra will completely forget she has even HEARD of obedience. All we really need is to be able to down the dog and recall them but with the excitement of chasing sheep around, I have grave doubts she'll hear on the first (or second, maybe the third...) cue to halt and lay down. I'm equally uncertain about what we'll when it comes to the part where they'll probably want us to try and turn the dog by using a crook or the like... I *know* Sierra doesn't care for those and don't want to shut her down. I'm sure if I ask the people before we go in they'll have some suggestions and will probably allow us to do some in ring training of sorts...but I'm still wondering what the heck I was on when that sounded like a reasonable idea. I'm not Catholic but maybe St Jude will have pity on us anyway...
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