The House of Wooden Stairs (a.k.a. Death is Merely a Misstep Away)

Paul fell down the stairs the other day and scared us all (I mean, what would we do without his paycheck??). (Oh, and he's not hurt, thank God.) So, I'm a bit on edge (ha ha) about the stairs in my house. To make matters worse and ensure that I will not sleep again tonight, this just happened this morning:

Jason: Can I go upstairs to get my Leapfrog?

Paul: Maybe later.

Jason: Why can't I go now?

Paul: Because you have enough toys down here.

Jason: Okay.

Two minutes later: BANG-BOOM-CRASH-WHOMP-BANG-CRASH!!!!

Me, running to the stairs like a crazy person: WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!

Paul: He's okay. He dropped a toy.

Me: "..." (one cannot speak when one's heart is lodged in one's throat)

An hour later, when I've finally calmed down and can actually speak: Jason. You scared me. Half to death. WHAT. HAPPENED.

Jason: I was coming down the stairs and I just couldn't hold the Leapfrog any longer so I just dropped-ed* it.

Me: Why didn't you just put it down on the stairs??

Jason: Well, I never thought-ed* of that...

Me: I thought you fell all the way down the stairs and really hurt yourself!

Jason, a bit condescendingly: Mommy. Come on. I'm not made of Leapfrog stuff, so it didn't SOUND like I felled-ed.*

Needless to say, I had no idea how to respond to this statement. (Have I mentioned that he's four? And that I don't think he's aware of that fact?)

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*Question of the Day: At what point does a four-year-old understand how to make a word past tense? Because, as cute as it may be, it might not be so cute if he tells the girl he's dating, "I goed-ed to the store and bought-ed you a flower that I thought-ed you liked-ed. Are you happy that I gaved-ed it to you?"