Res Ipsa Loquitur

His mother had been allowing her grandfather to babysit my grandson & her other 1 yr. old son while she worked. Her sister, who also has a 1 yr. old baby, had also. The great-grandfather had decided to mow, and put all 3 little ones on a quilt in the yard. He hit a patch of tall grass, stopped, backed up without looking, and my grandson was directly behind him. As his stepgrandmother said to me last night, the Good Lord was watching over my grandson, as the mower deck didn't get completely over him. (A fact for which I will be eternally grateful) And, as she added, it was a good thing, because apparently no one else was.

So to answer the question how do you run over a child with a mower: By being completely and utterly fucking stupid. I know what happened. Bubs _loves_ anything with a motor. When the mower stopped, he ran over to try to get on it. To know that, as we all do, and to be mowing around him without someone else to keep him inside...not to mention backing up without looking, is IMO absolutely criminal.

Now the aftermath. The hospital, naturally, called Child Welfare Services, as well they should've. Not only because of the accident, but also because when the great-grandfather arrived at the ER with all 3 babies, they were filthy & covered with ticks. (Mom couldn't be reached as she was at a doctor's appointment in Oklahoma & no one knew the phone number) The 2 little ones were so dirty that the ER personnel removed their clothes, cleaned them up & dressed them in hospital gowns, I discovered yesterday. Can we say charges of environmental neglect? I think we can. Can we say Bubs will be allowed to go back to the great grandfather's house over Mike's & my cold dead bodies with smoking guns in hand? I think we can safely say that also.

There's now an investigation by CWS underway, so that's all I should probably say at this point. Mom's house will be inspected today, so I figured it was safe to leave Bubs there until his doctor's appointment Friday. Then he is coming home with me. His mom, who's single, can't afford to lose her job. She has a 1 yr. old in addition to Bubs, and another on the way. (Neither of which are my son's children, thank God.) Bubs will need a great deal of wound care, dressing changes and whatnot. My daughter, who's a certified CNA & halfway through nursing school, can provide that. And Mike & I can provide the rest of what he needs. There's really no one else in the family that can care for him right now. His paternal grandfather & stepgrandmother are the only other ones with enough sense to take care of him....and they are the parents of Auntie Em, who as you may recall, is undergoing cancer treatment at St. Jude's. (She continues to progress very well, BTW.) I talked to them by phone last night, and we all agreed that Mike & I should keep Bubs for now....and possibly indefinitely.

My son is posted half the world away, and as you can imagine, positively came unglued when he found out what had happened. But once he calmed down, he understood that there wasn't much he could do at the present, and wanted us to make sure Bubs was well taken care of. Which we will. It will probably get pretty nasty before it's over. But at least I know how the system works, and as Bubs' closest relative who is qualified & able to care for him, I have a huge advantage under the Indian Child Welfare Act for placement. (Bubs is a card-carrying member of the Cherokee Nation.)

It may not come to that, but it's very likely that it will at least short term. So Mike & I will be working this weekend to get the house childproofed and getting one of the extra bedrooms ready just in case. And I will have my hands full with a recuperating 28 month old very active little boy. I can see a ton of Wiggles videos in my near future.

But at least I'll know he's safe.