Two weeks ago Sawyer had his first visit to the doctor for getting hurt instead of for a well baby check. It all started in our closet where he was playing in a cardboard box when the box tipped over and he fell backwards smacking his head on the floor. He came out of the closet crying and walking tipsy which made him them trip and tumble headfirst right into the bottom rail of our bed, and I mean HARD. He usually has excellent balance and rarely falls so it was weird that he would be that off balance to trip. At that point his previous crying turned into screaming. Immediately a huge bump rose up on the side of his eye which looked pretty gnarly so I called the nurse's triage at our Pediatrician's office. Since Sawyer doesn't have the vocabulary yet to tell me how bad his head hurt, the nurse thought it would be a good idea to bring him to get checked out.
Once at the doctor's office though he was all smiles and was playing with the kids in the waiting room like nothing ever happened so I started to feel like maybe I was being an overly paranoid parent. By that time too the swelling had gone down (really Doctor, I'm telling you it was swollen up like a golf ball, I swear!) Although the swelling was nonexistent, the side of his eye was starting to turn a nice shade of blue. After examining him the pediatrician said he most likely got a concussion from falling out of the box, which made him lose his balance and fall into the bed. Either way, with all that head sloshing she said it was smart to bring him in. So for anyone else wondering what validates bringing your kid into the doc after they've hit their head pretty hard this is what she told me:
*Any time they throw up afterwards
*If they are under age 2
*If they slur their speech or start acting goofier than normal
*If a bump rises up that is 2 inches or more
or
*in our case if it looks bad and they can't tell you with words just how bad it hurts
The photos were taken a few days later and don't do the initial injury justice, but this is what he looked like for about a week. You can imagine all the comments we got about it when we went out, "What happened to his eye?!" asked the cashier, the stranger at the store, random kids playing at the park, etc. It's probably because I've been researching child abuse lately for school, but I felt like when we explained that he tripped and fell into our bed rail that it sounded a lot like excuse a child abuser would give! "Oh yea, he just fell. Clumsy kid."
Needless to say, I'm glad it's looking a lot better and he has no permanent marks from it!
Other than documenting his first injury I wanted to update a few of his other milestones lately so I don't forget later on down the road:
*He is still in love with tractors and trains.
*Is in the 50th percentile for weight like before, but now in the 80th percentile for height.
*He loves jumping on trampolines and being bounced.
*Has been nipped by Moxie a few times now and has learned that's what happens when he pulls her tail or body slams her.
*Loves to help me cook by measuring ingredients out and dumping them in the bowl.
*Is starting to sing in the car, usually it's a melodious tune of "oh no, oh oh no, oooooooh noooooo, oh no no."
*Has not wanted to go to the nursery at church for a few weeks in a row now, which is very unfortunate for Matt and I as we then have to take turns corralling him in the overflow room.
*Likes to go for walks around the block sans the stroller.
*Is still doing really well sleeping in his big boy bed and has a set his own very specific bed time ritual that goes exactly like this:
We change him into pajamas, brush his teeth, and then he picks out one of his "Llama Llama" books for us to read, climbs into bed (sometimes that part takes longer than others), wants the bedsheet and comforter pulled up to his chin and his favorite blue blanky in his little hand. After the story we say prayers in which he folds his hands and mumbles while either Matt or I pray, then he insists on having some tooth medicine on his upper teeth (we usually pretend to put some on unless he really truly is teething), lights are turned out and then last but not least he points to his little iPod to be turned on which then plays the same classical music we've had playing in his room since he was a little baby, then his little mini fan needs to be turned on and running, and finally when he bids us adieu by waving goodbye we close the door and the bedtime ritual is complete. Ahhhh, relax time. Well for one of us, the other one then hits the computer and finishes up homework.
I like to think my relax time is done during the middle of the day when I take a much needed nap with Soyboy on our bed. Once I'm in a nursing program those lovely naps will be a luxury of the past so I'm enjoying them now while I can.
Soyboy keeps us busy, but I think it's safe to say our lives would be pretty boring without him!
We love him oodles.
