History Repeats Itself

Just when you thought your children had learned from their mistakes, they set out to prove you wrong. In January of 2009, DS had been whittling and managed to slice up his right index finger in such a manner as to require a trip to Urgent Care. Well, guess what? He did it again!

Right after school, I took DD to her piano lesson. I left DS at home, alone, as I've done many times before during DD's lessons. Upon our arrival back home, I discovered bloody bandages on the kitchen floor! I called out for DS and he came slowly walking into the kitchen....with a HUGE bandage on his left index finger (I'm pretty sure he used about 6 feet of medical tape to hold the bandage on!). Upon inspection of the obviously injured finger, I immediately had the kids get in the van and off to Urgent Care we went. At this point, it was nearing 5pm, and DD had to be at school for her musical program by 6:30pm....so I called DH to have him pick her up on his way home from work so she would be able to get supper before going to the school.

After a very long wait at Urgent Care, during which DH did come and get DD, we were finally finshed. After very nearly lopping off the tip of his finger, DS now has this lovely bandage on his finger for the next several days:Meanwhile, it was already 6:15pm....almost time to be at DD's school! So my mother-in-law met DS and me at Urgent Care so she could take him to get a quick supper before dropping him off at his Boy Scout meeting, while I quickly headed home, arriving just in time to leave for the school with DH & DD.

After watching DD's musical program, I finally arrived back home to stay at almost 8pm. It was then I started finding out just how much bleeding DS had done....and in how many places! Besides the kitchen, he had bled in his bedroom, the upstairs bathroom, the master bathroom, the carpet in my room, and on the quilt on my bed! I found bloody bandaging in the hallway, in the family room, and next to my bed. I must say, after discovering all of this, and knowing how DS reacts to blood/all things medical, I am very impressed that he remained as calm as he did during the 10 minutes after it happened before I got home. I did ask him why he didn't call me when it happened, to which he replied, "I was already busy having a conversation. I was praying!" (He said he was praying God would make the bleeding stop and heal his finger.) I must say, we must be doing something right in raising this child if his first thought in a crisis is to call on God rather than a human. :)

Hopefully, this time DS has learned his lesson. Be careful with the knife! And never whittle when he's home alone! Ah, the joys of motherhood!

You Whittled What???

DS has been involved with Cub Scouts since first grade. He is now in 5th grade and preparing to soon transfer from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts. He absolutely loves scouts. It has taught him many skills. Some skills are very useful. Some skills make a mom cringe. One of those skills is whittling. Yes, my DS learned how to whittle and became skilled enough (although that may be a subjective assessment!) to earn the "whittling chip" award and granted the privilege of carrying his pocket knife to scouting events.He has been reminded many times to be very careful with his knife, and for the most part has been cautious. There have been a few minor nicks along the way, but for the most part he has whittled safely. Until tonight. This evening after supper he had gone up to his room (and was supposed to be getting ready for his scout den meeting) and was whittling a stick. Well, he whittled more than that stick. He whittled his finger! His right index finger to be exact. And since he's right-handed, I'm not sure exactly how he managed to do that since that's the hand that holds the knife. He claims to not know exactly how he did it either...... So off to the local Urgent Care we went because it was a deep cut, right on the tip of his finger and into the nail. Luckily they have this nice product called Indermil, kind of like super glue for skin, that they can use in some situations instead of stitches. That is what they used on DS tonight to his relief (he does not deal well with anything medical so he was greatly relieved to not have to get stitches!). So now we get to keep his finger dry for the next 48 hours and not let it be scrubbed or soaked for the next week.....fun to figure that out when it's a finger on a hand that needs to be washed multiple times a day......guess he'll get to use some baby wipes to clean his hands for a few days. And there will definitely be no whittling for a long time while we review the safety precautions he needs to take so that he only whittles wood and not flesh.