What are the odds on this one?

Two nights ago, we came in from dinner and I turned on the living room light. The lightbulb EXPLODED. Really, it was a BAM! FLASH! sort of explosion. So I took the sand-covered children (one of which, KAYTAR, decided that it wasn't fair that we don't have snow in Texas and invented SAND ANGELS, which is every bit as messy as you'd think) into the bathroom to prep for bath time, while Josh cleaned up the shards of glass that had rained down in the living room. After their bath, and subsequent building of a small island out of the sand we found in KayTar's hair, life went on it's merry way.

Then yesterday afternoon, BubTar was playing with the kitten and crouched down to look at her and lost his balance and fell over. He made this small noise and I looked over at him, now standing, and saw blood already pooling on his foot. He was very confused and the "OMG! BLOOD!" tears were pooling in his eyes. I swept him off to the bathroom and cleaned him up with water ("It's just water! I promise! It won't hurt!!") and found a rather nasty, albeit small, laceration. Every time I released pressure, it started to bleed at a pretty good pace, so I asked him to hold pressure on it, so I could find whatever did this. I found it pretty easily. It was not exactly a small piece of glass. I obviously was thinking like a mom and not a blogger, as I forgot to take a photo of the menacing shard.



It can from the inner portion, the sturdy, yet curvy glass that holds the filament. It sliced in and out of his shin without so much as cracking. I picked it up and moved KayTar into our glass-free bedroom and continued to look after his wound. I could see what looked to be subcutaneous tissue greeting us with a bubbly hello from inside the cut and told him he might need glue or stitches. Then I showed him my own scars (knee, age 5, 5 stitches. chin, age 7, 3 stitches. chin again, age 9, 10 stitches) and told him it wasn't such a big deal. My mom, who was already in route to pick him up for an afternoon of swimming, agreed that it looked like stitches were in order, so she took KayTar to her house and off we went to the ER.

It was so strange being at the hospital with him. This is the same ER that KayTar has visited 6 times, been inpatient in twice, and sees a handful of her specialists in the various clinics. I've logged quite a few hours there. But being there with KayTar, well, it isn't exactly low key. Even when she went in for dermabonding, it was not a laid back experience. BubTar had questions, of course, but they were easily answered and for the most part, we sat watching the TV together and chatting. There were zero tears (ZERO TEARS!) and scarcely even a whimper through the entire procedure. He did really well. The hospital staff was great! They sent someone from child life in with video games for distraction and they talked him through every bit of it, "Okay now the doctor is putting cold water on you. This is the part that you might feel, the medicine can be hot. Now she's wiping you with a towel." He was informed of every small movement, every action he might feel or worry about. He, of course, was in video game heaven, but I appreciated the level of information they were providing him with. We have a hospital much closer to our home, but I drove an extra 30 minutes or so because of the level of care they provide. Kids are their specialty and I've never been disappointed with the care my children receive there.

While we were at the hospital, he told me a few things I found VERY entertaining.

He was looking around the room and he said, "Mom, I think this used to be a house." And I said, "No, I'm sure it has always been a hospital. They build it just to be a hospital." And he said, "But look at that floor (laminate faux wood). That floor looks like it should be in a living room. I think this was once someone's living room." I explained that they try and give off a homey vibe to make you feel relaxed and he shrugged as if to say, "I guess that could be ONE explanation. Or it could be someone's living room."

When the nurse came in she said his full name (let's say BubTaroni* for blog purposes) which can be shortened two different ways, and then asked if he liked to go by (the equivalent of) Bub or BubTar. We ALWAYS call him BubTar, but he said, "Uhm, Bub!" which surprised me! Evidently first grade it a good time to try out a manlier name. Plus, I think he had a little crush on the nurse. Heh.

While they were numbing his leg, he was confused by their explanation (putting your skin to sleep) so I told him it wasn't really asleep, the medicine just kept his nerves from talking to his brain, so his brain wouldn't know if something hurt. After he was done, he told me "Are there still needles in my leg?! Because once my nerves start talking, I think they'll be SCREAMING if there is needles in there!"

So, that's the story. 1 piece of glass, lots of blood, 2 stitches, 6 hours of our lives, and 1 celebratory meal at McDonald's for the brave boy. Oh, and also? THANK GOD FOR INSURANCE.

* You would be astounded at the number of people who have read the blog and thought that the children's REAL names are KayTar and BubTar. If you've ever wondered, let me clear up that question right now. NO! I would not name my children KayTar and BubTar and I'm a little sad that the modern naming situation as declined so much as to give these pseudonyms any sort of credibility as real names. One -Tar name would be bad enough, but TWO? No, no, no. But possibly still preferable to names like Moon Unit and Kal'el. Possibly.