The Deathwish of Children

A long time ago (about 4 years come January) Brian and I learned quickly that babies and small children don't have much of a self preservation drive. I mean they eat and sleep but that's about it. They don't get that if they roll over to far on the bed they will rather quickly meet the floor, or that standing on the back of the couch is not the BEST idea they could have today.
Our son, Jacob has always learned fairly quickly that when we tell him not to do something ("don't touch that - it's hot, it will burn you, that will hurt") he stops, thinks and listens - if he doesn't listen, he only makes the mistake once.
Abigail on the other hand has been actively trying to kill herself from pretty much the beginning. Not only does she not listen, sometimes she must get hurt two or more times before she figures out she can't 'beat it.' She was 10 months old when I had to bolt the bookshelves to the walls too keep them from tipping over when she tried to climb them. There was the stairs incident here back when Abby was only 8 months old. I am amazed that the only real injury she has sustained at this point is a burn on her fingers and that was the babysitters fault.
So today we are at the playground and they have a climbing apparatus (at the playground? go figure!) some bigger kids were stepping up (there are about 3 levels - one is about 8 inches off the ground, one is about 2.5 feet and the other is about 3ft up) and jumping down. Abby got bored with the first level in no time flat and then immediately climbed to the top (I am not sure how she got up there all on her own but she did) and said 'jump!' I was standing next to her and had my hands out to which she immediately brush away saying 'no help me!' She looked down, thought for about 1/2 a second and then said 'JUMP!' again. I grabbed her by the arm at the last second because she was gonna jump without my help but it was too high. She was mad I helped her but she only tried jumping from the second level after that. Also refusing help. After she landed, fell back onto her ass and realized that may have been a little much she went back to picking up all the beauty bark and making piles on the play structure.
That girl is fearless. Jacob wouldn't even jump off the second step. He is a bit more timid than his sister in many ways and I don't know if he has more fear, or more sense (I think a bit of both). He has always been a bit less impulsive than her.
I am going to have to make sure Abby NEVER gets the 'garbage bag for a parachute off the roof' idea or I am going to have one helluva hospital bill. On the other hand maybe her chutzpa will get her far in life.