Uncle Philip and Bella

My sister had a doctors appointment, so Uncle Philip (me) was going to watch Bella (my niece), while she was in the doctor's office.

Watching Bella is easy, she is fun and never a problem. But, it is amazing to me how quickly something terrifying can happen. My sister is an incredible mom and Bella is blessed to have her. While Bella and I were playing, we were going up and down the stairs in the hallway. Up and down, up and down. Well, there were metal railing things that went up and down the hand rails, as supports, they were about 8 inches apart from one another.(notice picture below) I was about 6 feet from Bella when she said "Uncle Philip, I can look down the steps!" and she proceeded to stick her head through the black railings!! Of course, she was unable to pull her head back through. That is when the panic started for both of us.



There was no one in the hallway, and Bella began screaming in terror. I was trying to talk to her while working her head back through the railings. It wasn't easy. Finally, I was able to calm her enough to hold her head very still and slowly pull it back through. It was an awful moment, and I realized how scary raising a child is going to be. I can't wait for the opportunity one of these days, but for now, I'm glad to be just me and Andi!