My little brother, Steven, and his wife, Amanda, came into town today for the 3-day Memorial Day weekend. It was sort of a surprise to me, since I just found out last night that they were coming. So when family gets together, that's always an excuse to eat in, eat out, eat, eat, eat... Of course, it's not until we're inside of a restaurant and I'm struggling to get my kids to sit down and be pleasant that I am reminded that it's probably time I learn my lesson and keep my children away from restaurants as much as possible (the feisty girl-child anyway.) But it's just so hard when you want to share their cuteness (such cuteness) with the relatives who miss out on that regularly as well as the rest of the general public.
As dinner was winding down, Ashley's patience was winding down a little faster, so I took her outside to wait for everyone else to follow behind us. She was running up and down the sidewalks, giggling and enjoying the fresh air as I sat and watched her from a bench nearby. A few minutes later, the inevitable happened and she fell right on her face and ended up with a huge knot on her forehead...the kind that scares every parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, stranger. (I had to reassure the man standing outside the restaurant that, no, she wasn't born with a purple golf ball protruding from her head.) After my dad went back for a bag of ice to apply to the battle wound (I can call it that since just about everything's a battle with a 2 year-old these days), we decided that a screaming, wailing child doesn't do much for welcoming diners looking for a way to relax on a warm and breezy Saturday night. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood!
Back at my parents' house, we were supposed to be gathering for dessert while I spent the next half hour or so consoling Ashley and looking for any sign of a more serious injury. (She wanted Mommy and not Grandma. You know there's something wrong when that happens!) I had Chris look up "concussion" for me...just in case I couldn't remember what the signs and symptoms might be since I have never had a concussion myself. Lethargy, dizziness, confusion, irritability...all typical characteristics of normal 2 year-olds who run around all day making themselves dazed, confused, tired and temperamental. Oh, but the unconsciousness and vomiting are also the tell-tale signs which we've managed to avoid, so it's all good. We can all breathe a sigh of relief.
After giving us a nice little scare, Ashley seems to be doing fine now. There's nothing a little cake and ice cream (and Dora fruit snacks, apparently) cannot cure. Content in her crib now with her favorite blankie, she is drifting off to sleep while her nocturnal brother lurks quietly nearby and life is (almost) peaceful again.
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5 comments:
I always look up the symptoms for things like this too. It's always good to know just in case. Joshua got a HUGE purple knot on his forehead once that was so much bigger than any I had seen before. I called the nurse who said he should be fine. The next day he had what looked like a black eye so I called the nurse again. She said that the knot on his head was a hematoma and that they often drain down like that. It was weird.
OUCH! That sounds like an awful fall. Scary. I hope she's all better now.
2 year-old girls are so dramatic! I'm glad her battle wound is not serious. Soon she'll be showing it off.
I totally agree about the symptoms of a concusion being the characteristics of a 2 year old. girl. I find that my kids often get their head owies when they are running around but tired. . so they are clumsy. Then you wonder ..should I let them fall asleep or are they just tired. Another symptom to look for by the way..that Tim learned in first aid class is dark cirlces (not the tired kind necessarily..look more like black eyes) under both the eyes and/or behind the ears. SERIOUS problems.
Thanks for the first aid tip, Kristin. I am relieved that Ashley's injury was very minor and that her bruise was gone relatively quickly. She's back to her usual self. :)
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