The Mom of Boys

I am the mom of two boys.  That means that injuries are never far from my mind.  I am not saying that it's not possible for a girl to hurt herself because of some trick she was doing, but I am making a broad generalization that most boys are a bit more crazy in the daredevil department than most girls.

Spencer started walking when he was 12 months and 1 week old.  At 12 months, 1 week and 1 day old he started climbing on the couch and hurling his body off of it.  We actually had to rearrange furniture in the living room because he would climb the couch, climb on to the back and then climb from the back down to his little art table, stand there and survey the scene for a while, then climb down to the chairs.  Repeat.  1,000 times a day.  I also can't tell you how many times I would walk into the room to find him standing on the coffee table or his train.

Spencer has injured himself pretty seriously for the last three summers.  All 3 were facial injuries.  He likes his scars to be visible to the public at large.  In 2009 it was in June.  In 2010 it was in July.  In 2011 it was in August.  2010 and 2011 were so serious they took trips to the ER.  I'm on full alert for this year's ER trip, but apparently it won't be until September.

This is the back door/Ginger's doggie door at our old house.  During the summer of 2009, when Spencer was 21 months old he was running at full speed when he ran into the chair on the left and then fell, face first, into Ginger's step (which is a concrete block wrapped in fabric).

This was like 2 days after.  We took him to the pediatrician the same day because we were afraid he had broken his nose.  He had not, but they also checked for internal hematomas, which were a complication I hadn't even considered. 

We took our first family trip to San Diego about 3 days after this all went down.  This was a week later.  He was eating his first ever piece of candy at Old Town San Diego.  He healed up really well. No scars with this one.

The summer of 2010 we were visiting Michael's family in Vermont.  The night before we left to fly home it was 96 degrees inside of his aunt and uncle's house (they don't have air conditioning).  We thought we'd take a cold shower and go to bed damp.  Spencer and I were in the shower together when he slipped, fell and busted his lip.  Off we went to the ER.  I won't show you the pre-stitches picture, but if you're interested you can read about the whole awful ordeal (and see pre-stitches pictures) HERE.

This was the next day, on the flight back to Arizona.

And this was 1 week later

Last summer Spencer, Michael and I were chasing each other around the house.  At some point Spencer put on his safety goggles from his Home Depot play set.  Once we were all done chasing he came running down the hallway to find me (still wearing the goggles), slipped and fell.  The so called safety goggles cut into the bridge of his nose.  Off we went to the ER (the same ER we would eventually take Elliott to when he had sepsis and stopped breathing).

Again, I won't show you the pre-ER pictures, but if you want to see them  and read about the day, you can go HERE.

This was after they had put super glue on his nose to close the wound.

And this was a week later.

The post that I wrote after all this happened is titled Beagles, Bruises and Supper Club.   You can read it HERE. I get a shocking number of visits to that post.  Most of them are from google searches.  What the hell are people searching to bring them to that?  Actually, I know.  They are searching: "beagle with broken bones in face".  That showed up in my stats when I checked just now.  

Last night I had just sat down to nurse Elliott when Spencer came running into our room.  He tripped over a storage ottoman and went flying into the metal bottom of the rock n play.  I just held my breath and mentally calculated how much we had in our checking account and if it was enough for the ER co-pay.  I just knew that it was going to be his eye this time. 

But shockingly, he just had a little rug burn and the tiniest little bruise.  The kid even kept it together enough to cry silently until he got out of our room, because he knows he's supposed to be quiet when Elliott is going to bed.

I took this at dinner tonight.  The bruise he had last night was gone by this morning.  Can you see his other scars though?

This is his lip after 2 years.

This is his nose after 1 year.

When we were at the ER last year to get his nose repaired the ER doctor saw his lip and asked if he had only had a cleft lip or if it was a cleft lip and palate.  I had a strange desire to punch her in the stomach when she asked that.  Then we felt like real jerks when we had to explain that it was another ER trip one year prior.

Now I have two boys.  And wouldn't you know it, with all this worry about the next ER trip on my mind, Elliott got his first bruise today.  We were playing in his room when he took a header into a dog shaped xylophone/piano.  He wailed and then looked at me like I had pushed him into it.  I like how whenever anybody hurts themselves it has to be somebody else's fault.  I bump my head and I immediately look around for who I can blame.

The bruise was on his forehead above his right eye and was there when Michael got home from work at 5:30, but was gone by the time I took this at 7:30.  I guess we don't have to worry about following concussion management protocol tonight.

My sunglasses were sitting on the table when I asked Spencer to pose for a picture.  He picked them up and put them on.

It reminded me of the time he wore the same sunglasses when he was 11 months old.

Back before his face had been stitched and glued back together.

Maybe I'll put Spencer in full body armor and a welding mask for the month of September.  That seems safe.  And feasible.