Wow. This is the first time in a long time I haven’t had plans on a Sunday night. For many months, we were watching “Army Wives,” but for the past few weeks, we’ve either made plans for a get-together of some kind, or we’ve headed to someone’s house for movie night. It fell through tonight, as the only person I heard from was Bridget, and her son is suffering from a stomach bug, poor guy.
It’s nice to stay home for once, though. I actually get to watch Sunday Night Football with my pals, Al Michaels and John Madden. YAY!
The above isn’t just another photo of my cute kid. I mean, she’s cute, don’t get me wrong. But as Terri T. alluded to in her comment yesterday, Grace has managed to injure herself.
See, last night we stopped at BJ’s to pick up some salmon for dinner. We totally struck out on the salmon; while it’s cheapest there than anything else, we also don’t need three pounds of it at one time! Sometimes Kurt can con one of the meat workers to chop one of the three-pound sections in half. And that’s exactly what we were doing last night, waiting to see if one of the meat workers would halve a salmon for us, when Grace thought it’d be an excellent idea to climb up on those railings that protect the cold cases from cart damage. Finally I noticed what she was doing and said, “Gracie, get down! Do NOT climb up on those railings!”
It wasn’t two seconds later that she was back up on the railings. And within moments, as I was just about to chastise her once more, she slipped off the railing. The first thing out of my mouth as she began to wail was, “Dammit, Gracie!” (Mother of the Year award, right there) — but then I saw the blood.
Oh, lordy.
What I guess happened was her bottom teeth punctured the inside of her bottom lip while her top tooth cut open the outside. And of course, when you cut your lip, it bleeds profusely. I managed to calm Grace down rather quickly by cuddling her and telling her it was going to be all right. But we still had to face The Walk.
The meat cases at BJ’s are at the back of the store. The restrooms are at the front of the store. We had to walk from the very back corner all the way to the middle of the store in the front and back to the one side with Gracie dripping blood all over herself. And it wasn’t like the store was deserted either. For some reason, everybody and his uncle decided to head to BJ’s, which means we were watched by fellow shoppers the entire way.
One young lady, probably in her late teens, stared at us from the moment we entered her field of view until we made the right turn at the front of the store. She didn’t smile or look concerned or anything. She just stared. The next woman we encountered was a mother herself, and made clucking noises of sympathy as we came near. I told her simply, “She fell,” and she replied with, “Oh, I wish I had a tissue to give you!”
Finally we had run the gauntlet and arrived at the restroom. Grace had already swallowed all the blood in her mouth, which caused me some concern since the last time she injured herself (she managed to punch her teeth through her tongue when she was about ten months old), she’d gotten sick due to how much blood she had swallowed. As I was cleaning her up, there was a little girl who came in to use the restroom. Once she was finished, she asked us what happened, and when I told her, she expressed a great deal of sympathy. She told Gracie she hoped she felt better soon, and left the restroom.
When we finally came out to rejoin Kurt at the registers, another little girl came up and handed Grace her hat. I guess she’d dropped it in the midst of all the hullabaloo. She too expressed concern for Grace, and it was so sweet to see that other little kids were concerned for her welfare.
But to make a long story short, she’s just fine now. Her lip is still a bit swollen, though we put ice on it as soon as we got home. It figures, though. My dad wants to take a family photo when we’re there this week, and my kid has to get a facial injury just before that. Gotta love kids!
The Mind of Bluesleepy 
My son fell and got a big knot on his forehead a week before his one year pictures… he looked like I was beating him!
and give Grace a hug for me, I’m glad she didn’t break her teeth!
Whenever I see a mother with tantruming kids, or after an accident like that, I also smile in sympathy with them. We’ve all been there, and twice: once when we were kids, and once with our own.
Yet another example of how kids are often our teachers. Who was reaching a hand out to the two of you? Other kids. Adults? They look away and get on with their supposedly busy and important lives. So sad. So happy those two gals were there for Gracie.
Well durn, and shame on the deer-in-the-headlights adults. I’d have been clearing aisles for you, commandeering a tissue off the shelf if necessary, and a bag of frozen peas to hold the cold on her poor boo-boo lip. I’ll have to find Max’s first grade ID, the one he carried around all year. The night before school started, he had a bike crash and gave himself one and half black eyes. All year, there he was, the prize fighter on the ID.
Awwww! Poor Gracie! Give her a big hug and tell her she went through that whole thing like a real pro. She is such a gorgeous child…split lip or no split lip.
I know she’s probably feeling better already, but please give her an extra big hug from Auntie Chele. At least she didn’t get stiches ~and~ have a black eye…. talk about people gawking. (In reference to your incident at the day care when you busted open your lip.)
xoxox
I was really more concerned that she damaged/injured her teeth even though they are baby teeth. I know from experience how painful it is to bit your own lip as my jaw slips on occasion and I hit the same spot over and over. But it does heal really quickly. However, if you notice her teeth turning darker, take her to the dentist…. I don’t want to alarm you but it is something to watch out for.
I bet she will look just fine for the holiday photo..if not, you can always put a little makeup on her face. LOL
What a sweetie she is! She looks like she’s forgotten the whole thing, but as a mom myself, I know you’ll relive it in your head for the next couple of days!
OW! I’m glad she’s okay, and I hope it heals super fast!