Ceiling Fans Are Weapons

If I was a fighter, I think my weapon of choice would be an unreliable ceiling fan.

Fans are the closest thing to AC that this place has, so we were thankful that ceiling fans were hung in every big room. Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room, Bedroom, Bedroom, Bathroom, Bedroom, Bedroom, Rec Room. Nine of 'em. They move a lot of air and keep this house reasonably comfortable, even in August.

Well, the bathroom fan fell. While running. One of the blades just snapped off, the motor continued to run, and it eventually shook itself off the ceiling. Broken glass everywhere. Thankfully, there was no one in there at the time. (That would be one Tale From the Can that would live in infamy.)

The fans didn't run much over the winter, but it's heating up, so they are getting used again. Some of them need to be balanced, as they shake a little too much for comfort. Especially knowing that one of the nine already came to a tragic end.

See where I'm going with this?

Toby sweats like I do. (That means he sweats a disgusting amount as soon as the temperature rises above 68 degrees. It's ridiculous. Poor little sweaty kid.) Therefore, we leave his ceiling fan on high 24 hours a day. At the very least, it keeps the air moving and moderately comfortable.

I put Tobe down for his nap Saturday afternoon. Set him in the crib, kissed him goodnight, and he went straight to sleep. Good boy. Daddy left the room, and within 5 minutes, there was a CRASH, and the little man was screaming in pure fear of what had just happened.

I ran in to find the ceiling fan shaking violently from side to side. It looked like what you might expect a demon-possessed ceiling fan to look like if one was in some sort of cheap horror movie. I turned off the power and went to pick up the poor kid...

...who was laying in his crib with a fan blade. There is a significant dent in the wall above Toby's bed. Once again, a fan blade snapped off. The poor kid is now terrified to be anywhere where a ceiling fan exists. Which is especially unfortunate, considering they are in every room. And our "good sleeper" is suddenly afraid to go to sleep.

This could wind up being one of those traumatic events that follows him for a long time. We're trying to convince him that everything is ok and that Mommy & Daddy won't let a fan hurt him, but good luck convincing the kid who had a blade fly over his head and take a chunk out of the wall above his bed.