Since having Ben 2.5 years ago, there have been the occasional moments of panic (including a tumble down the stairs at my parents house), the worrisome illnesses that really were nothing to worry about but I didn't know any better, and the standard kid injuries (remember that black eye that was showcased in the annual mall Santa photo last Chrismtas?). I know it could be much worse though. There have been no stitches, no projectile vomit beyond baby spit up, and no emergency room visits. On Tuesday morning, though, I had a scare. We were in the garage and Tessa was already clicked into her spot in the car. I opened the door to Ben's side and realized that his seat wasn't installed because Justin had taken him out in the pickup the night before. While I was grabbing the seat, Ben quickly climbed into the car like a maniac like he always does and somehow slipped. It probably had to do with reaching for the seat to climb and not realizing it wasn't there until it was too late. He immediately started screaming which means a real painful injury has happened and when I picked him up his mouth was...gulp...full of blood. For a moment my head spun because I didn't know what to do and then my years of first aid training from lifeguarding sprung into action and I brought him to the bathroom to try to find out where the blood was coming from. I quickly found out that it wasn't from a knocked out tooth (THANK GOD!) or from his tongue. It was from inside of his cheek. He bit a huge chunk of skin out of the inside of his cheek. The bleeding quickly stopped and he was able to be distracted so we went about our morning plans although the day turned on me and both Ben and Tessa were clingy and whiny alternatively all day. All I heard was "Hold Beeeeeeeen!" and "GA GA GA GAAAAA MAMAAAAAA" all day. The next morning I called the doctor because I was so disturbed by the sight of that gaping canyon in his mouth but they told me what I think I already knew, which is that mouth lacerations heal quickly on their own and that they don't put stitches in kids' mouths. So, heal quickly mouth laceration!
Over the weekend, my cousin gave Ben a ski helmet that was heavily discounted because it had been removed from the box and used in a advertising photo shoot. (She works at Scheel's).
Maybe he needs to wear it in his daily life...
Here are a few more pictures from my phone:
On Sunday I went to buy some new winter basics for these two at the Kohl's baby sale (yayyyyy) and I came home with some un-basics as well, including new pajamas.
Ben got Olaf from "Frozen.
Tessa got a standard Carter's fleece sleeper. There is nothing cuter.
Back when Ben was in his aimless exploration and destruction stage I was constantly frustrated with how he was obsessed with my wine rack. Now Tessa is obsessed with it. I already removed the breakable glasses and replaced them with plastic ones.
I'm hoping she gets bored with it soon but instead she has reignited Ben's interest in it. Oh, the reason there are beach towels on the kitchen floor is because I used them to cover plants last week when there were freeze warnings. Now summer temps are back again and maybe they will get a few more uses as intended. But that would mean I would have to make time to read on the deck in a lawn chair and that probably won't happen.
I was holding Ben yesterday, and he wanted to hold Tessa so we held her too and I took our picture and I love the look in her eyes!
This is from this morning. Ben has rediscovered his blocks too and likes to arrange them into letters. Tessa likes to come lumbering over and destroy those letters, causing screaming and demands that I "hold Tessssaaaaaa!" to keep her away.
