Boyhood: Not for the Squeamish

I continue to be amazed that we have not yet had a trip to the emergency room. Very, very thankful, but still amazed.

Yesterday was an enthusiastic day for Steven. It all started yesterday morning when he was waiting for the girls to finish their quiet times. Their morning chore was to empty the trash cans, and he didn’t want to do it alone. So, he got the Swiffer and was “dusting” the tops of the door frames throughout the house. This was great fun until he made it to the foyer. A smoke detector hangs just above the front door in the foyer. As he was dusting the top of that door frame, he bumped the smoke detector, and it came tumbling down. The landing spot? Yep, right on his little forehead.

Fortunately, there was no blood, no real swelling – just a little bruise and scratch.

Fast forward to a little before 5:00. We were heading out to drop the kids off and go to a dinner in Stuttgart with some friends. All we needed to do was get the bread out of the oven. With about two minutes remaining on the timer, we suddenly hear a horrible wail. We go to the living room to check on the issue, and are greeted by our son. Blood is streaming down into his face, and he’s using one of his beloved silkies to wipe it away.

I’m reminding myself the whole time It’s a head wound. Head wounds bleed. LOTS.

We dash to the bathroom and begin trying to wipe away the blood and find the wound. The harder it is to find, the more comforted this mama’s heart becomes. Finally, we trace the would to a deep scratch on the top of Steven’s head.

And I was going to cut his hair today!

Come to find out, Steven had been playing behind the couch. Somehow, his the balls he was playing with ended up either on or in front of the couch. Instead of going around the couch to get them he had to live up to the expectations of boyhood and dive over the back of the couch. Problem? His momentum was too great for him to stop, and he went straight into the coffee table.

We still made our dinner date, he still had fun playing with his friend Sawyer all evening, and he still dove into boyhood behavior full-force while playing.

But, we still managed to avoid that ER trip, at least one more time.

Oh, and I do have to confess that I laughed. I just couldn’t help it, especially once the wound proved to be truly minor. Laughter is what keeps me sane!