this time, it is us.

 

    If I seem to have a lot of stories about Sam it is because he is 3.  At 3, almost every (other) action or word is amusing or exasperating because they have yet to understand irony.  Or modesty.  Or discretion.  I had a lot of amusing anecdotes when Emma was 3. . .  So when I have a story to share about her, I will make a point to do so.  Otherwise, one might suspect favoritism.  No, she is (usually) just a sweet girl.
    Sweet, smart, and so darn . . . creative.
    This  past Saturday, we had dance pictures.  I went to parent's night this past Monday where the dance teacher said, "If it can happen between now and pictures, it will.  Wrap them in a bubble to keep them safe till then."  Oh, I should have listened!
    But then, when they are in their room and (supposedly) asleep, you don't expect disaster to strike.
    It was a dark and ordinary Tuesday night.  The kids were in bed.  Asleep?  They were supposed to be.  I was just getting ready to cut Jarrad's hair when we heard a blood curdling cry - "It hurts!  My nose hurts so much!"  And out comes Emma with blood dripping down her face. Somehow, she managed to acquire a gash across her nose.  We cleaned it up and I was starting to clean the rest of her face when I noticed a gash across the crease of her eyelid.  At first, I thought it was just smeared blood but no, it was another cut.

the morning after - so these pictures don't show how bad it got.

    "Jarrad!"  I called (he was getting supplies), "She cut her eyelid!"  I am panicking just a bit because it is the eye and that could be bad and I really, don't want to go to the emergency room AGAIN!  Been there and done that enough in the past 9 months. And I would probably have social services coming to investigate me. . . No, really, the last time Jarrad was in the hospital, they asked him 3 times if he felt "safe in his home environment".  It kind of makes me really sad when I think about it -  I just can't keep my family safe. 
    So, I yell at him that she cut her eye with a note of panic that has many levels to it when my poor tired girl, who is already in pain and crying, hears this and ramps up even louder saying, "I didn't cut myself!  I didn't have scissors!  I didn't! Mommy, I didn't cut myself!  I didn't have scissors!"
    It was just the note of levity to calm me down.
    To back up to those 3 year old days.  Not once, not twice, but 3 times this girl cut her hair.  The second time, she cut her hair, her screen, her sheets, 2 of her dresses, her doll's hair, her doll's clothes: let's just say she had a cutting party.  The 3rd time, we had spent 9 months growing out her bangs AT HER REQUEST when she decided she was tired of her hair in her eyes and cut bangs (she did a pretty good job but it could have been so bad).  Needless to point out it  has been  ingrained into her what would happen if she EVER did it again.   Hence her hysterical insistence that she didn't have scissors and hadn't "cut" herself with them.  
     Back to the cut on the eye, I wanted to get a second opinion before I packed my child up to head to the ER.  I tried to call my parents.  Didn't pick up.  Thought - wait!  I know a pediatric nurse!  Tried to call my brother in law.  No pick up!  Really people?  It is the EYE!  (I am starting to get a bit upset again) Scroll to find the number for the other nurse in the family - WHY is it not in my phone????  I know it should be there!!!!  Call my brother for his wife's phone number.  Only to realize that for some reason, I had put it under his name and not hers. ARGH! Text a picture and explain what is going on.  She says we should be fine going to pediatrician tomorrow.
    Poor Emma. The last time she went to the doctor, it took 3 adults to hold her down for her shot.  Going to the doctor is not fun for her.
    Still, we had to go just so that they could check her out, I told her. They "glued" the cut on her eyelid and said that everything looked fine.  No broken nose.  No damage to the eye.  Shouldn't scar.
    But we still have dance pictures on Saturday.  I think it is a rite of childhood to be one of "those" kids.  This time, it is us.
   Oh, want to know how she hurt herself when she was supposed to be sleeping?  Yoga.  Yep.  Crow to be specific.  If you are unfamiliar with yoga, crow looks like that -  Where did she learn this pose?  From when I took her to yoga one night and she loved it! 
    Emma calls it balancing on her nose and she was trying to do it on her bed when she fell off her bed and ended up with a black eye - that looked SPECTACULAR just in time for pictures.