Well,
A few days ago Levi was running around the house goofing around. He chased Tyler. Tyler chased him. And he indulged in one of his favorite pastimes: running and sliding under my legs (which make a "bridge" from the couch to the coffee table). He has all these rules about style and how he can't touch me or he loses points. I believe he's looking for "the perfect slide". I think it was Monday night that he miscalculated his slide and WHAM!! hits his head on an eight spot Lego on the table. Of course his head bounces off the table like an over inflated brick and he grabs his head and the tears start to flow. I didn't realize he'd hit the Lego initially and figured I'd be making an omelet with his fresh goose egg. Not exactly. That Lego must have been a Ginsu in a previous life because it sliced his forehead open like a tomato after a tin can. At this point I was grateful for the first aid training I received as a requirement for coaching a H.S. sport. It was pretty apparent even at that point that this situation deserved a trip to the hospital. To make the situation a little stickier, the Cruiser was at the church and Wendy had the van @ the Birk, Sather, Davenport Financial doing our taxes. (we like turbo tax) Running back and forth between tending Levi's wound and searching for the phone I finally managed to call Wendy, giving her the cryptic message "You need to get home. Now."
in retrospect more information might have been prudent at that time but I had a very frightened 5 year old with blood streaming down his face.
I had the bleeding stopped by the time Wendy arrived and we loaded the boys up and headed for Mercy. We get there and Brent Cosens stitched him up. Levi ended up with 8 stitches just over his left eyebrow.

Everything was going pretty well until last night when the boys went to the gym to play and one of the other boys launched a purple rubber scud missile (a ball) at him and actually hit his target. BUllseyed the wound. Of course it started to bleed again and really kept oozing all night. It swelled up more and his eye turned even more purple that it already was. The color probably would have happened anyway but the bleeding and swelling concerned us a bit. He woke up this morning looking like Apollo Creed taught him a lesson on manners. His eye was swollen almost completely shut. Wendy took him to get the stitches out only to find out he has an infection...ewww. So we will have to wait to get the stitches out.

As a Dad this whole situation is different. The night it happened my emotions messed with me. It is an odd thing to have a child in pain. Something inside you snaps and makes you want to cry. It isn't a sadness cry, or a scared cry...it is an esoteric feeling one can experience but not describe. I don't cry every time he gets hurt. Just the opposite, I am usually one of those fathers who comforts his kid for a very short while then makes a joke to get him to move on. But everything changes when your firstborn experiences real pain mixed with fear. It is hard. Strange, but hard. It is a good thing Levi is a tough kid. I will make you a deal, pray for the infection to go down and I will keep you updated.

Latro