Accident-prone girl strikes again

The other night I ambitiously set out to lower baby’s crib mattress. Now that she’s sitting up more easily, there’s no telling when she could prop herself up in her crib and at the high position, it could be dangerous. So I dug out the Ikea brochure to read up on how to do the necessary changes. I found the little wrench to undo the bolts, which came out quite easily, thank you. I slid out the mattress and propped it against the now vertical crib. Then there were these plastic protector things that I had to remove before putting the mattress in the new position. But they just wouldn’t come out. Despite using a metal nail file and tweezers to try to get some leverage, wouldn’t budge. So I decided to take care of baby’s evening routine and come back to it later.

But what do I hear as I’m feeding baby in the living room? A sort of crash and the cat running out of the room (or am I adding that last detail to escape from some guilt?). The wooden mattress frame had fallen (due to the cat or just my carelessness for having left it in that position). And to add insult to injury, there is now a little hole/scrape in baby’s bedroom wall where a metal piece on the frame hit the wall. And the impact also slightly cracked the not that sturdy mattress frame. So I sighed as I often do in these types of situations and wondered why I’m doomed to relive such accidents.

Of course, I couldn’t hide it from Remi, so went ahead and told him when he arrived home. He wasn’t too concerned about the wall, as plaster can fix it up. He just shook his head and asked me to get a screwdriver. Apparently the durned plastic things that I couldn’t get out were screwed in. But how am I supposed to remember the mechanism for attaching and detaching those things after 9 months? Plus, to be fair, the brochure did not mention that detail on the pages about lowering the mattress. Husband said something about if I’d only been a bit more curious I would have noticed how it worked…With baby on my hip, I had to remind him, that no, I was not an idiot, I just hadn’t noticed that minor detail. (Don’t worry, all you feminist readers. He later told me not to read too deeply into his comments and that it wasn’t mean-spirited.)

But it’s just another in the continuing series of clutzy girl accidents. I’m starting to wonder if I really am deficient in common sense, as my husband (who is not always as logical as he’d liked to think) likes to tease me about. Have I just got the type of brain that catches on to mechanical things a minute too late? I’m not always this brain dead, but more often than not, I’m lacking in a bit of hands-on ability. I’d like to think it’s more carelessness than anything else. I’m eager to finish something and so skip some steps or just don’t notice that crucial piece of information. I’m not completely un-savvy when it comes to computers. Anyway, here’s hoping I’m just a late bloomer when it comes to logic. Unfortunately for me, it’s something you can’t buy.

Note about the picture: it's before the mattress was changed.