blood, bruises and blades

The past twenty-four hours have been one of the more brutal days in my sixteen months of raising one of our very own Future Men. Sean tells me there are many more of these days to come, and that they will be even MORE difficult, but I’m trying not to think about that right now.

The events started last night after one28 as Cal was running through the gym, very excited about all the “dodo” (basketball) playing going on around him. He ended up tripping, and in kind deference to his hands, fell directly on his mouth. This seems to be Cal’s favorite way to land, actually. He has already chipped one tooth, bitten his tongue badly a few times and split his lip more times than I can count. So of course, he started bleeding and was quite sad.

Okay, so that’s not that bad.

So then this afternoon, after a morning filled with normal falls and bumps, Calvin somehow got Maggie to help him up on to Geet and Bop’s bed so he could watch the one part of Mary Poppins that he likes (the dancing chimney sweeps, of course). I saw this, and being a wise mother, told Maggie to make sure he didn’t fall off while I went to start lunch. This proved to be a bit too much responsibility than a Mary Poppins obsessed 4 ½ year old can handle. Anyway, I heard a thump and by the time I got there, Cal had already gotten up, and seemed to be more angry than hurt (more motherly wisdom), so I told him to suck it up and be a man…which he promptly did. It was fifteen minutes later as I was feeding him lunch that I noticed the blood dripping off the back of his head onto his shirt. Here is a shot of his cleaned up head…


I guess this still isn’t that bad, but I thought it was plenty for me. Apparently, it wasn’t.

About a half hour after I cleaned him up, he and Mags were playing rather frenetically on the couch. Already having been proved as a wise mother today, I said something like, “Don’t fall off!” and thought that should cover any sort of trouble. Nope. Calvin promptly fell straight off the couch, eye-first onto the coffee table. By the time I picked him up, the bruise was already starting. He was so sad he didn’t even protest my ice application. The pictures don’t really do the swelling and color range justice, but here are some different angles to enjoy…



That takes care of the blood and bruises - on to the blades! Sean’s hard work is paying off…look at this grass!



The little feet aren’t too bad either.