first blood

It was bound to happen. I mean, really it's just inevitable. It happens to every kid, eventually. Right? Even knowing these past three lines were true didn't make it any easier to take.

While Kai and I were playing on the driveway outside, his Crocs tripped him up and he fell on his face. He immediately began what I would refer to as a medium, probing cry. The kind of cry where he knew something didn't feel quite right, but wasn't debilitating pain, and was certainly more than the fake mommy-and-daddy-turned-off-the-tv-too-soon-because-they-don't-love-me cry. As I picked him up off the ground I could tell that there was something to this cry. And yes, my poor son skinned his right knee today. Actual blood came out. Mind you, this was nothing compared to the scrapes I got into when I was a kid, but damnit, this is my son. I immediately took him inside and applied some disinfectant and Neosporin ointment. To ease his mind, we applied the mental soothing effects of a Baby Einstein DVD. Works every time.



Of course, not even a week ago Kai got his first black eye. What a difference a few days can make... Yes, he was playing at the Y, wearing his Crocs again, and tripped up and slammed his face into one of the tables in the child care area. Right below his right eye, he's got a clearly delineated bruise where the straight, blunt edge of wooden furniture met the soft tissue of my son's beautiful face. You can see it in the lead photo above. I guess with his increased mobility comes increased risk of injury. It's just so hard to stomach as a parent, at least this early on in the game...

One notion I wasn't prepared to deal with was when we took Kai to the after-hours pediatric center for his cold this past weekend. One of the receiving nurses noticed his bruise, and immediately glared at me with a suspicious eye. I hadn't even thought of how to deal with that inevitability. I'd never had anyone look at me so accusingly. I later asked Erin if the Y had some kind of incident report that would explain Kai's bruise. Thankfully, in this day and age, they do keep extensive records of those sort of things.

Eighteen young months into his life, Kai drew first blood and his first shiner. It was only inevitable...