The One About The Toddler Swing

Driving past a park yesterday my oldest said "Ugh. Don't remind me." 'What?' I said. 'What do you mean?' "That PARK!" She growled. Wha'??? OOooohhhh. THAT park. I remember...

While returning home one late afternoon a 7 year old Katie looked out the window of our car and saw a very inviting park. "Please Mom! Ple-e-e-ase can we go to the park?" It seemed like a fine idea to me so I made a right and parked the car.

It didn't take long for Katie to get herself into a situation. You see Katie has always been tall for her age and she isn't always cool with it, especially not at 7 years old. So while I was playing with my little 4 year old Lily, Katie was trying to fit herself into a toddler swing. A small, rubber-bucket-with-leg-holes-too-little-for-a-7-year-old toddler swing.



I hear "Mom! Help! I can't get my legs out!!!" I turn to see my girl trying desperately to lift herself from the rubber diaper. When I get a closer look I see that her little legs are in those sockets good and tight. I try to lift her but it doesn't work. She's in pain and I'm trying not to panic.

For some reason, I don't know why, I called my husband at work. As if he had some magic potion to fix this. I think I just wanted him to be a part of this crazy situation too so he got in his car and arrived at the park with a screwdriver. (Male thought process: "A tool. Something is stuck, I must bring a tool!" I don't know.)

Rob can't get her out of the swing either. He concludes her light weight cotton pants are putting pressure on the situation so he has Katie tuck them up as high as she can on her leg. Now we really see her legs and how they are swelling. Time to call 911.

When the first fire truck (and I mean first truck) arrives they stifle their laughter at the sweet little girl who appears to be wearing a large rubber diaper while being suspended by heavy metal chains. While doing our best to keep Katie calm and her mind on all of her favorite things, we notice her little sister has discovered a new game; rolling around in a pile of dry leaves then picking every last bit of debris from her fleece coat. Hours of fun for this little girl!

The first fire truck doesn't have the right tools and neither does the second fire truck. When the 3rd fire truck arrives the local college track team joins the party and gets into a stretching session at the park. Oh good! An audience!

Katie was cut down from the swing and carried to a bench. She seemed to resign herself to her situation and folded her arms leisurely behind her head. While a team of Fire Fighters stratched their heads and tried to come up with a plan my Katie was trying to find shapes in clouds and my Lily was on her 8th round of rolling in the leaves. This was not my best day as a Mom.

With snips of a bolt cutter, and lots of salve applied to her legs, the swing finally released it's grip. The Captain in charge handed us the mangled rubber swing and said "Do you want to keep this?" For some strange reason we did. We needed physical proof of what brought 3 teams of Fire Fighters to their knees and 1 family a story that will go down in our history.