January Update #2 - The Tale of the Not-So-Tough Girl

Well it is true that all kids are different. In the case of our daughters...they couldn't be any more different!

By now you've read the tale of Kayla and how she coped with a broken arm for days without saying a word...

Well you also read that January has brought a series of not-so-nice firsts for us...let me tell you about the night of the 13th...

Let's start with an obsession in our house with what the girls call "slippery" socks (you know, the ones without those little grips on the bottom...which are really just called SOCKS. Normal socks)

Now picture 3 kids racing from the dinner table to bath time

...around a corner onto hardwood floors.

THUMP!

Enter screams.

No, not screams...blood curdling shrieks that could only belong to one person.

Mattea.


We didnt' see exactly what happened, but putting together the pieces of the puzzle...

Mattea + slippery socks + running + hardwood floor = disaster

Now...like the merciful mother I am...I began the rant about how we don't run in the house, and that I can't understand a word she is saying because she is screaming....Mark however, is a merciful soul and tends to indulge her injuries...and this time, thankfully so! Although typically her screams are without basis...this time in her defense...she really was hurt!

It took quite a few minutes but Mattea had transitioned to just whimpering... Mark noticed the blood making its way through her mess of hair and dripping onto her shirt

Mattea SEES the blood.

 There is alot more wailing...

I pulled her hair back to reveal a cut in the side of her head, about an inch and a half long, but it looked deep and was just laying open. I knew right away where we were headed. The same place I had been just 5 days ago (what kind of neglectful parent am I?!). And by WE meaning there was no way I was taking THIS particular kid to emerg for stitches on my own.

Mattea has always had a flair for the dramatic...and her injuries are no different. She can cry a river over a paper cut, she can make you think she broke her leg when she stubbed her toe...she is one of those kids. But this time she did have a reason to cry so I worried about her coping skills.

Mark's cousin came over and watched Kayla and Canaan for us, and we both set off for the hospital and tried to prepare Mattea for what was going to take place.

The nurse confirmed...Stitches...GREAT

Now, it is important to note that God answers prayer and doesn't give us more than we can handle....so I"m not sure who He was thinking of that night...Mattea or US. But by the time the Dr. came to stitch her up, the cut had stopped bleeding (but still lay open over a centimeter deep - so on your skull...that's grossly deep:-/)...BUT he was able to use glue instead of stitches!!!

Such an answer to prayer, because as much as we try to teach self control....in the area of pain, I know Mattea just doesn't have it!

I didn't end up taking any pictures because it all happened so fast. And after the fact there was nothing to take a picture of because the glue closed it up so tightly that you could barely find the cut. You only knew where it was by the mat of glue encrusted hair that was there:-)

Its been several weeks now, and while her sister doesn't say a word about her arm, we still hear status updates on Mattea's head on a daily basis:)