Dear Kids,
If I had a dollar for every time one of you said “I hurt myself!” we’d have a nice, steady income with which to pay for your preschool. I’m only half kidding when I say that. It seems like you’re always getting yourselves into some kind of trouble.
From my 6/21/12 journal entry:
Livia dislocated her elbow today. This plus her black eye (from last Sunday at Auntie Natalie’s when she fell against the rock wall) and Marshall’s usual collection of bruises, scratches, bumps, bug bites, and assorted red spots of unknown origin probably make it look like we abuse the kids. There’s not much we can do tho, but continue to try to keep them out of harm’s way, however futile a task that may. I knew that rock wall was trouble and tried to keep her away, but she managed to get past me. However, she did not eat the poison berries, or touch the poison ivy, or escape into the woods, all of which she attempted over and over to do. Natalie’s yard is not nearly baby proofed! People never take fences seriously until they have toddlers.
My journal entry wasn’t 100% accurate. As the ER doctor in Penn Yan explained to us while we were on vacation in July, Livia’s elbow wasn’t actually dislocated. She had nursemaid’s elbow, which is a subluxation (i.e., partial dislocation). It’s not as serious as a complete dislocation.
But who needs to know that? Only the parents whose child is being treated for nursemaid’s elbow for the third time. Yes, third time! And it was actually her fifth visit for emergency care (there was the spangle-eating incident, plus three elbow-subluxation incidents, and one crushed-finger incident). You should have heard us blathering to the hospital staff about everything she had ever been treated for. I guess we figured that if we told them everything they wouldn’t think we had anything to hide.
We don’t have anything to hide (well, except some household clutter), but I hope you’ll take it easy for a while, put some time between injuries for appearance’s sake. And for our sanity’s sake. You have no idea how terrible it is to see your child hurt. It is not one of the highlights of parenthood.
You are inquisitive, adventurous, energetic, determined, and single-minded—all traits that could be useful someday. But those same traits are the ones most likely to get you into trouble now.
Be safe, my little ones. No more trips to the ER, OK?
Love,
Mom
P.S. I started writing this post in July or August. It is December now. You have each required emergency care once since then. Livia got a tick bite and Marshall had an extremely high fever, both distressing events. But henceforth you’re going to take it easy on us, right?