Honey, I Broke the Kid

When I got married, I also became a step-father at the same time. Victoria just turned 7 a few weeks ago. Needless to say, I have a learning curve in being a father.

And, in perfect RandomFailure style, I managed to pull a doozy last week. Karen put Victoria to bed just before 9:00. I went to give her a hug goodnight, and she felt like horsing around a little. First there was the hug where she wouldn't let go. If you don't think that's a problem, try standing up with a 45 pound child clinging to your neck.

I escaped the ersatz (no, I didn't need the thesaurus; it just came to me) headlock and we were play-chasing around the bed. Victoria got back onto her bed, and I grabbed Blanket (her security blanket, cleverly named "Blanket") and dashed about 6 feet away from the end of the bed.

Victoria was pouting and wanted Blanket back. I told her she'd get Blanket if she would lay down. She then playfully threw Spike (the stuffed dog) at me, whom I caught. I then threw Blanket back at Victoria.

She was kneeling on the bed and leaned forward to grab Blanket and lost her balance, smacking her chin hard into the raised footboard of the bed. She sat up, her eyes welled with tears and then she screamed in pain, crying. Then her chin started bleeding. A lot.

I rushed over to Victoria, telling her to tilt her head back while I put my hand under her chin to stop the bleeding. I yelled for Karen who came rushing downstairs. First a few tissues (bad idea, I know), and then we applied a washcloth. Karen picked up Victoria, who now bravely held the washcloth to her bleeding chin. We took another look (it was bad) and knew we had to go to the hospital. Karen put jeans on Victoria and took her down to the kitchen and put ice in the washcloth.

I ran upstairs to put sneakers on, and we raced out the door to the Emergency Room. I drove like a loon to get there ASAP. After dropping them off at the emergency entrance, I managed to find a parking spot on the street and sprinted back to the hospital, practically knocking people over. (Since I'm a runner, I can move when I need to; people looked at me like I stole something.)

At one point while we were waiting, Victoria was sitting on my lap and she said, "I guess I should have listened to you." Very perceptive child, she is.

It turns out Victoria needed 4 stitches, which were removed this morning. We returned from the ER a little after 1:00 AM, so it was about one hour per stitch.

Lesson learned: don't mess with Blanket.