Kids and Accidents!

Boys are boys and are bound to get themselves pretty banged up from time-to-time. Earlier in the week when we had good weather Connor bit the dust and has a good scrape on his forehead.

Yesterday, however, I thought I was going to end up at the emergency room twice! (But only once was necessary.)

The first incident was Connor pulling over a lamp and the light breaking, shards everywhere, of course, my back was turned just the instant it happen (and everything does seem to happen in an 'instant' - nothing is ever in slow motion so you have the chance to intervene like in that movie The Matrix). So anyway, down the lamp goes, bulb breaks, Connor screams, mommy runs - trying to protect and discipline at the same time (making sure I see no blood or shards of glass in skin / eyes / etc.) and I put him in his playpen (which he hates now that he's mobile and therefore his screams increase in intensity) and keep Jr. sitting on the couch while I throw open the windows (because it's one of those new halogen lights that save money but unfortunately has Mercury in it) and begin the cleaning process. I have figured out now that I'm going to Velcro the lamp down to the side-table, but ran out of Velcro in the process and need to get to the store later today so I can have light in my living room.

With that incident over with I give the kids a bath, get into PJ's read books and then Jr. needs to go POOP (and he has to be supervised in the bathroom or I have to disinfect everything or end up unclogging drains or the toilet, anything else you can imagine?) Well at this point Connor starts crying because he wants to nurse which is difficult when you have to read books to your 2 1/2 year old while he's on the toilet. Anyway, Connor continues to cry and Michael Jr. finally finished and then it was time for bed. Michael Jr. ran down the hallway to avoid the inevitable and at this time I had Connor in my arms who was crying still and Jr. threw himself on the floor when I told him to go to bed and while holding Connor still, I reached down to pick up Michael while he was still throwing a fit and started walking down the hall to the bedroom when THUD! Michael's head hit the corner of the wall, which I first thought 'not again' and then I saw blood gushing down his face - at this time I couldn't see where the cut was yet. I had to put Connor down to handle the situation and this caused even more crying and screaming. I walked Michael to the bathroom (just steps away) and put the hand towel on his head thinking 'I've got to get this bleeding stopped!) So, surprisingly the bleeding didn't last too long, so apparently I was applying enough pressure and then to the freezer to grab a bag of frozen blueberries which I held there for some time. I was surprised at myself for not passing out or throwing up at this point. I assessed the damage and decided I should call my mom to come over to watch Connor so I could take Michael Jr. to the emergency room to get checked out. By now I had Michael Jr. holding the bag of blueberries on his own and I reached for the first aid kit and found the butterfly band aids to keep the gash closed, of course, Michael Jr. thought it was pretty neat to get three of them. So after that I ran around the house, first getting Connor a bottle of soy milk which he adamantly refused to take and continued on his screaming episode as I put some things together in a bag to take with us to the emergency room, which I just knew would be full and I'd need to keep Jr. occupied. My brother Chris arrived first, mom had called him to come over with her and help out. So we were finally off - and arrived shortly at the hospital and there wasn't anyone else in the waiting room. We got right in and when we were in the nurse's station answering questions and Michael was sitting on the bench with me with my arms wrapped around him, he leaned into me and patted my arm and said to me very matter-o-fact "Mommy, Michael's going to be OK." He proceeded to flirt with the nurse and showed her some sign language. To get him to stay still I (reluctantly) gave him a lolly pop which I had found moments before in the car's glove box. We proceeded to registration and Michael Jr. charmed the receptionist there too, persuading her to turn off the lights so he could play with his key chain flashlight. After that brief interview we went directly into the emergency room and got a bed, the nurse was great and gave him some 'blue gel' to numb his gash and told me that we could get it glued instead of stitched, which was nice to hear, because I'm not fond of holding down a 2 1/2 year old to get shots, let alone stitches. So, everything went well and we were home by 10pm. Of course, the report on Connor was that he eventually fell asleep but didn't want to take his sippy cup with soy milk, he kept signing 'milk' which meant 'I don't want that stinkin' soy milk, I want my Mommy!' Needless to say, I gave into Michael Jr.'s requests to watch the Noggin channel and eat a snack. Well, Jr. ended up sleeping with me and so did Connor when he woke at 2am with a full diaper and insisting to nurse. I was surprised how well we all slept together in the bed.