Chapter 17, Tommy's First Crawl
Tommy POV
We were at my grandpa Boris and grandma Minca's house, and I was growing bored. The grown ups kept talking, and here I was, sitting around, in a new place with all sorts of neat things in it I had never seen before. Oh how I longed to be able to go on an adventure by myself, and explore this place. Well, I rolled over on to my tummy, and started pushing myself off of the blankie mommy had put down for me to play on. It wasn't long, before I was crawling for the firstest time!
Nobody seem to notice I was gone, so I crawled out of the living room, into the kitchen, where there were all sorts of cabinets and drawers to get into! I crawled around, opening all of the cabinets and drawers, taking pots, pans, and dishes like the ones I ate out of, only biggerer, out of the cabinets and drawers. Then, I came to some stuff I had never seen before. They were bottles of stuff. One of them, was white with a blue top. I wondered if this was a place where milk came from for grown ups, as I had seen mommy drink milk when we were eating meals. The bottle was kind of heavy, but I grabbed the handle, and pulled it on to the floor. Then, I started to turn the top, as I had seen mommy and daddy do it on several bottles at home, so figured I could do it too.
I gotted the top off, and the stuff inside the bottle, smelled kind of funny. To drink, or not to drink, that, was the question. But this bottle didn't have the nipple thing on it, so hmmm. Before I could make up my mind though, my mommy walked into the kitchen, where I had made a mess and started exploring this bottle of funny smelling stuff, and she wasn't happy. I, was definitely in trouble.
"Tommy! No!" Yelled my mommy, as she ran over to me, tripping over several pots and pans on the floor. She looked so funny, I couldn't help but laugh. She took the bottle away from me, and went back into the living room, where I hearded her yell at my grandma.
"Uh oh." I thought to myself. Maybe that stuff wasn't suppose to be for babies.
End of Tommy POV
A minute later, Stu came in and grabbed up Tommy, and took him back in the living room where Didi was yelling at her mom and dad.
"How could you! Leave a cabinet with cleaning products, unlocked so Tommy could get in there?" Didi shouted.
"Now Didi, I wouldn't worry. In the old country we never had to worry about such stuff." Said Boris.
"But this isn't the old country. Our son could have died if we hadn't gotten in there in time, and he had drunk any of the bleech that was in that container." Shouted Stu.
"I'm sorry mom and dad, but we're leaving. You can clean up the kitchen by yourselves." Didi shouted, as she took Tommy from Stu's arms, and ran out the door, slamming it behind her, before Boris or Minca, could utter another word.
Stu got up, grabbed Tommy's blanket and toys that Didi forgot to pick up, in her haste to leave, and followed Didi out to the car. After he got into the car, and they drove away from Boris and Minca's, Didi started to cry.
"I wouldn't worry Didi, Tommy's fine." Said Stu, who looked through the rear view mirror, to see Tommy, who had fallen asleep in his car seat at this point.
"I had no idea Tommy would crawl off to the kitchen and make a mess. He's never crawled before, until today." Replied Didi through her sobs.
"Well, I now know what we need to do when we get home. It's child proofing time." Said Stu, as he turned on to the turnpike, to head back to Akron.
"Well I want to make sure Tommy is going to be ok." Said Didi.
"Oh Didi, you worry too much. I'm pretty sure Tommy didn't drink any of that stuff. We probably would have heard him choke or something." Said Stu.
"I don't know Stu. Lipchitz says that getting into cleaning products is one of the number one ways for young childhood deaths." Replied Didi.
"Fine, when we get back into town, we'll take him to the hospital to be checked out." Said Stu.
Luckily, Tommy slept the entire way home, so they had a break from The Happy Song on the way back to Akron. Stu and Didi continued to talk about many things. One of which, was how much they missed their friends in Yucaipa, and had it not been for Tommy's little exploration that gave them such a scare, they were going to go pay their friends a visit. Stu was also still very unhappy at the job he currently had with Zico Tam Industries, and it was only a matter of time, before he hoped he'd get fired, or would have the courage, to resign. He wanted to keep the job until at least Tommy's first birthday, if he wasn't let go before then, as then, he would have been working for a year and a half, as at this point, he had barely been there for a year.
They finally reached the turn off to Akron, and found the hospital. Upon getting out of the car, Tommy awoke.
Tommy POV
Wow! That was the fastest car ride I had ever been on! But I wasn't home. I was at some place with a parking lot. Mommy carried me inside, and then, I recognized where we were. I was at the hopcickle.
End of Tommy POV
Tommy's family had brought him to the hospital, to get him checked out, as Didi was beside herself, fearing the worst when she saw Tommy on the floor with that bottle of Chlorox Bleech, and wanted to make sure he didn't inhale any of it.
They were finally called back to see the doctor's, and after doing some tests on Tommy, and pumping his stomach, they were relieved to tell Stu and Didi, that Tommy did not drink any of the Bleech, but they did the right thing, by coming and getting him checked out, to be certain he didn't get any into his system, causing him to poison himself.
Tommy POV
I saw a doctor, who did all sorts of stuff with me and made me throw up my food. I didn't like it, and just, wanted to go home. I was so glad when it was all over, and we could finally leave that place. But just to be safe, I cried, hoping my parents would know I just, wanted to get out of there! I would have crawled away, but the doctors and mommy, wouldn't lets go of me.
End of Tommy POV
Tommy was crying by the time they left the hospital.
"It's ok sweetie, we're going home." Said Didi, as she tried to comfort Tommy while they headed out of the hospital, and got into the car.
Upon getting home, Didi tried to feed Tommy, but he wasn't interested in nursing, or eating any food. Instead, he yawned, and fell asleep, so Didi went and put him down in his crib, and everybody headed off to bed.
The next day, Stu got started on child proofing the apartment they were living in at the time, but he left a drawer beneath the oven free, for Tommy to open and close, and they put stuff in there, like a few plastic plates and some old measuring cups and small pots, that would be safe for him to play with. Stu then proceeded, to make a video, of what ended up being Tommy's second crawl, as he crawled to the drawer in the kitchen, opened it, grabbed out one of the small measuring cups, and started banging it on the floor.
Tommy POV
My daddy maded me this really fun drawer with stuff in it to play with! It had all sorts of shiny cups and pots, and plates. They were fun to bang on the floor! And mommy wasn't mad no more when I went to play with them! I wondered what else I could find to play with. So I crawled all over the place, looking for more adventures.
End of Tommy POV
As Tommy crawled through the apartment, Stu followed him with the video camera, making sure he didn't get into anything else, while Didi followed close behind, getting anything unsafe, out of Tommy's way.
"That's my boy!" Stu said, as he picked up Tommy, who smiled up at him, and gave him a hug.
"We sure do have a smart little guy on our hands. And a very curious one at that too!" Added Didi.
Stu nodded in agreement at this.
And this, ends the chapter, of Tommy's first crawl, and his first visit to his maternal grandparents. But what about his paternal grandparents? We'll learn more about that, in the next chapter, so please, do stay tuned!
Author's Note: Another chapter inspired by real life events. My nephew Zack, has taken a liking to the cabinets and drawers in my parents kitchen, lucky for him though, my parents were smart enough and thought ahead enough, to have the place child proof before he started crawling around, so Zack has never explored anything harmful.