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!

How To Get The Attention Of Lifeguards

One of the local high schools offers swimming lessons during the summer. Four days a week they offer "open swim" immediately following the lessons for the public to come and use the pool. Today was the third time I took DS & DD to open swim after DD's swimming lesson. I've always wondered just how much attention the teenage lifeguards are paying to the swimmers at times. Well, today I had the chance to find out.

We had been in the pool for about an hour when the incident happened. DS & DD were throwing diving rings out into the pool and then taking turns going out to collect them. They also decided that I needed to dive after a few as well. As I was coming up from collecting 3 of the rings I hear a loud, piercing scream. Of course it was coming from one of my children....DD. I got ahold of her and put her up on the side of the pool as I tried to figure out why she was screaming. At that point I noticed the blood dripping from her lower lip. So I climb out of the pool and walk her into the girls' locker room to check her out and clean her up. A couple of minutes later, after I had gotten the bleeding to stop, one of the life guards came in with a first aid kit to see if DD was OK. As I answered her that DD was fine, all I could think about was that the response time was not very quick. Hopefully it was just due to the fact that I had already gotten to DD and gotten her out of the pool & was obviously taking care of her.

Now you may be wondering just what happened to DD to cause the bleeding & screaming. Evidently DS had gone to get one of the diving rings and in the process kicked DD in the mouth. (He did apologize profusely when DD & I came back to the pool.) Ah, the joys of children. You just never know what will happen next.....

No Relaxing Allowed

Just when you think there might be a moment to sit and relax.....life informs you differently. At least at my house that's how it works. Tonight I was in the middle of cleaning up after supper while DH was out running a few miles. DD was supposed to be practicing the piano. DS was driving one of his remote-controlled vehicles around. As I was finishing loading the dishwasher I was just coming to the realization that I was no longer hearing the piano. It was just as I was turning to see why that I hear the loud thud followed immediately by the piercing scream along with DS calling out, "I'm sorry! Are you OK?!" I look over to see DD on the hardwood floor next to the couch (OK, she is a good 7 feet away from the piano she was supposed to be practicing!). As she was crying to hard to tell me what happened as I held her, I asked DS what occurred. DD had climbed up on the back of the couch (it's a reclining couch so it's a rather tall back) and DS had accidentally knocked her off when he bumped into her while driving his RC vehicle. DD proceeded to fall onto the hardwood floor, landing on her right elbow and right knee.

After getting her calmed down and examining her elbow, she was still complaining of it hurting. So to be on the safe side (seeing as how 3 years ago she broke the other elbow in a similar fall) I decided to take her off to Urgent Care for X-rays. DH was not back yet, but I knew he would be soon, so I left DS home to let DH back in the house (DH did not take any house keys with him when he went out for his run because the rest of us were home at the time). At the clinic X-rays were taken and the clinic doctor determined that DD just bruised the bone in the elbow (although the films will be sent to the radiologist tomorrow for further examination to be sure), so for now she just needs ice & pain medication.

Upon arriving home, no one else was home.......we arrived well after DH had to leave for a meeting of the fathers of DS' Boy Scout troupe. Since he had no idea when we would get home, DH had to take DS with him. Ah, the joys of parenthood.......nope, life is definitely never dull around here!

Yes, She's Definitely My Child!

Having given birth to these children myself, there is obviously no doubt they are mine. They seem to be determined, however, to keep proving this fact on a continual basis. I have always been accident-prone----from the first broken arm at age 3 (and first set of stitches at around the same age!) and through numerous other broken bones & various injuries over the years it has been an undeniable fact of my life. And as you can tell from previous posts about DS, he seems to be following in these footsteps (albeit in a different manner than I did.....cuts with a pocket knife, burned while camping.....). Well, DD is determined to continue to prove herself as my child as well. While she had her first (and I keep hoping her only!) broken bone at age 4 (she broke her left elbow....strangely the same thing I had for my first broken bone), today she decided to be a walking accident-waiting-to happen.

Immediately after the kids got home from school, we headed out to DD's Daisy Scout leader's house to pick up some more cookies that had been ordered (gotta love Girl Scout cookie time!) so we can make more deliveries. While getting back in the van to come back home, DD managed somehow to close her upper left arm in the sliding door of the van. Luckily (for all the screaming & crying going on.....it had to really hurt!) she only ended up with a large bruise. Then less than 30 seconds after we had walked inside after getting home she somehow stepped incorrectly and twisted her right ankle. Thankfully it was minor enough that after a few minutes she was able to walk on it without any problems. She did decide at that point that she was going to play with a toy that she could play with sitting down in one spot without moving around. I wonder why.....