Helping and disobedience

The kids have apparently caught the demo bug. I heard Dominic in the bathroom making these horrible grunting noises. I'm sure you can guess what I was imagining. Then I noticed Caitlin run by with a piece of vinyl. I went into the bathroom to find Dominic pulling up pieces. It wasn't glued down, but since the shoe molding was still nailed down he was having difficulty getting the vinyl ripped into tiny pieces.

 

He was then handing Caitlin the pieces for her to put by the door so I could take it out to the trash. Since I had no clue they were going to do this, I was impressed with their neatness in getting everything done.

We had lunch and Caitlin went down for her nap. A few minutes later I was on the phone with Jon telling him about the kids and I hear screaming. It's the kind that makes you drop everything (including the phone) and run. I came into Dominic's bedroom to find his toe caught in a folding stool that he'd been told earlier not to stand on. He'd slipped and caught his toe. His weight as he fell closed the stool onto his foot. Since he was on top of the stool he couldn't get his toe out. If he'd been any heavier it would have broken his toe. It took several seconds (that seemed like minutes) to get the toe out. He screamed the entire time. When I got a look at the toe I was a little concerned. The picture below doesn't show (because it was taken a bit later and he wouldn't be still), but he had a sizable dent and it almost immediately turned purple and started bleeding.

He screamed for over 30 minutes. I finally calmed him down and put him on the couch with angry birds. He spent the afternoon on the couch and then limped around all evening. He will definitely lose his toenail, but nothing appears broken. He was fortunate. It could have gone much worse. I couldn't help myself. I gave him a rather long lecture about obedience. I think this is one lesson he won't forget.