The boys (Lazarus, Levi, and Isaac) were restless because the sun was out and the computers & tv's were "off limits". Levi sidles up to me and asks, "hey mom, can Lazarus, Isaac, and me go to the park?"
Now you see, I'm a paranoid parent. Reading the news is not a good past time for me because it only makes my need for protecting my kids much stronger. But I do want to trust them. I do want them to be able to learn responsibility. So this was my opportunity. "All of you? And you promise - and I mean PROMISE you guys will have good behavior and practice the buddy system, right?" I stared each one of my boys down with a glare that promised disciplinary action if any of them dared to break the golden rule.
"Yep, for sure." He reassures me.
"What about you Isaac?" My finger points at Isaac standing in the doorway, his body snaps to attention. "You promise you'll listen to Lazarus and Levi?"
Isaacs head bobs up and down on his slender shoulders. "Oh yeah mom, I promise. Cross my heart." He folds his arms over his chest. "I'm gonna listen real good."
Sigh, "Okay guys... but no one comes home alone. You stick together." And I was going to pray like the dickens that nothing bad would happen to them. I know I need to let go and let them grow up. There were three of them, so together they should be safe. There was power in numbers. I was going to work on letting them learn to show me how responsible they could really be.
I watched as the boys gathered up balls and outdoor toys to take to the park for a little fun time. I knew that this was not only good for them, but for me as well. If I didn't learn how to let my boys grow up, then I would have trouble when they finally grew into adults - but that didn't make it any easier to trust that everything was going to be all fine and dandy. So I waited... and I waited... and I waited....
That is when I heard footsteps pounding across the driveway as Lazarus headed for the house, throwing open the door. "Mom, I have some really REALLY bad news for you!" His voice roars through the house and my throat tightens apprehensively. "Something bad has happened to Levi."
"Tell me." Here it is... the words I've been waiting a half an hour to hear.... I really am not ready to deal with it....
"He broke his teeth out."
What? "What do you mean broke them out?"
So Lazarus goes on to tell me about how the metal see-saw is jumped on by a girl just as Levi bends to pick up his jacket, and whack, straight to the mouth. Tooth broken and left behind. I'm just thinking, where the heck is Levi so I can assess the damage? Finally I hear crying and Levi and Isaac appear in the doorway. And that is when I see it... his permanent tooth broken in half, and half of it is laying in the park somewhere.... oh dear.... dentist... here we come....
Okay, so this is the part where the story should be over - right? But when it rains, it really does pour... so let me continue.
That evening, after trying to figure out what to do about a permanent tooth being broken in half - I go to bed exhausted. Dealing with the kids this Sunday morning/afternoon/evening (all of it) was utterly tiring. We had teeth breaking, fights erupting, mud thrown on everyone (including the dog), water soaking my rug, messes left everywhere, clean laundry thrown all over, so on, and so on, and so on....
Really, I just wanted to go to bed and sleep for an entire week. Unfortunately, I was not so blessed.
In the middle of the night I was laying there and heard a loud BANG. I thought, what in the heck was that?
Then the crying started - I knew something bad had happened - but it took a few minutes for my cranial gears to churn before I realized what it was that I was hearing.
Arianna fell off her top bunk bed.
I jump out of bed and run out there to find Arianna in the bathroom with her face over the toilet. Blood is soaking her hair, hands, and face. She is coughing and gagging into the bowl.
"Anna, are you okay?" I'm staying calm... and I was pretty proud of that, considering I don't do well getting awakened from a deep sleep, no matter how serious the matter.
She starts mumbling, "I am sick. I am sick." Over and over.
I am looking at her and trying to figure out where the blood is coming from - so I go and get a rag from the hall closet and tell her "I need to wipe the blood off of her face to figure out where she was bleeding from" because her clothes she was wearing were soaked with blood, and in her bedroom there was a good foot or so of blood on her floor.
She mumbles, "I'm sick... no blood... just sick... just sick."
After wiping her up and taking a good look at her, I notice she has cut her lip up pretty bad where her teeth bit into her and her nose was bleeding out of both sides. She is totally confused about what happened and is a little out of it.
Anyhow, today I am having to monitor her closely and make sure her swelling and tummy ache get better. Every half hour I'm talking to her to make sure she is alright. I'm probably driving her bonkers. I am pretty sure she has a mild concussion (because she was a little out of it and has a headache) and her lip and face are really swollen. Although I am feeling better about things because she seems to be improving, I still want to make sure nothing turns for the worse. It also looks like her eye will turn black over the next day or two because it is already changing color - although in the picture it is hard to see how bad it looks in real life - the poor girl.
So, I guess you could call us blessed that no bones are broken yet. Yippie! And both of my kids could say, "I fought gravity, and the gravity won!"
