Scarlett will be two next week. (let me pause a moment before I go on to let that sink in).
Apparently she wanted to get a head start (literally) on the whole being two and clumsy thing. I have a picture of me in grade school with a pretty nasty black eye and a missing tooth, the former the result of taking a knee to the face as I departed a slide at the playground and the latter the result of being seven years old and wishing for the Tooth Fairy.
Now, my daughter has her first Don't-Ever-Let-Child-Protective-Services-Find-This-Picture photo:
After a rough morning testing out her new school, Scarlett was very anxious for her playdate with Ya Ya. Lunch was packed and the girls were off to the Burrito Ritto (our name for the local yummy mexican food restaurant that is walking distance from our house) and the park. She took the front steps a little too quickly. I heard her head hit the pavement. My sister has correctly said this is the worst sound she has ever heard in her life. For a few years the worst sound I had heard was the three distinct fractures of my ankle. My kid's head hitting the cement is far worse.
I'm pretty calm in these situations. I was true to form today. Well, after the 60 seconds of saying - no for the record, whispering over my shoulder- every swear word I've ever heard or imagined when I picked her up and saw blood coming from her nose.
Apparently, I'm a bad mom though. After seeing that she wasn't vomiting or trying to sleep right away, I determined that though she didn't look so great, she was going to be just fine. So I went to work. Mommies aren't supposed to do that I guess. My husband and mom were a bit irritated that I wasn't rushing her to the doctor, or egads, the Emergency Room. I turned the car around and came home. I called the doctor. The nurse said something quite shocking. "Kids fall everyday, she is going to be just fine." I asked her if she would so kindly call my mother and share the good news.
Scarlett made out pretty good though. She didn't have to go the doctor AND she got her Mommy home with her all day. Well, it's hard to say she made out that great when you forget about it for a few minutes and then look down and your daughter's face is red and bruised and looks like someone chased her down with a red marker.
If I didn't have these pictures, I wouldn't be able to convince anyone it happened because she seems to have no long term trauma. She didn't even mention it to Daddy when he came home. I'm hoping she doesn't feel more sore tomorrow. For now, she felt good enough to smile for the mug shots I took for Child Protective Services.
I love you, Scarface, even if I do run off to work when you've just met the cement for the first time. I'm going to keep you in bed with me tonight and snuggle up real close. I know you are just fine but your Mommy needs a little extra lump of sugar tonight.