Face First

(Let me know if you see a pattern...)

When she was oh, a little over a year old, I think, and still getting her sea legs, she took a digger going from the kitchen step at my parents' house onto the rug on the porch.

And for a little while, she looked like this:

 

And then...let's see, when was it...around a year later, she was jumping on Alex's bed - the one that has the iron headboard and footboard with the pretty scrollwork (used to be mine) - and she dove face-first into the footboard, split her lip and ended up with 4 stitches and looked kind of like this:

And then...a couple of months ago, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, and one of the symptoms was the partial paralysis, or palsy, in her face, as evidenced here:

Granted, she looks kind of cute with that crooked grin above, but still...a three year old child doesn't need palsy.

Fortunately that disappeared and she went through her antibiotics and all that, and apart from a cold this week, she's been doing pretty well.

So anyway, today, being the last day of winter break, Bill thought it would be nice to take the kids sledding over at City Park.  He bundled them up in their snow pants and hats and boots and jackets and mittens, and off they went, bound for adventure.

I took a leisurely shower, puttered around a bit and was putting the coffee cups in the dishwasher when the car pulled in the driveway, and Bill came in the door carrying Julia.  I took her and brought her into the bathroom, sat her on the edge of the sink, peeled off her winter outerwear, and examined her little face.

And right now?  It's looking something like this:

She and Alex were on a sled together, Julia was in the front, and somehow, they veered off the trail they'd been going on before, and they went faster and faster, and then the sled flipped over and landed on top of them, and Julia's face hit the ground first.

She had a cut lip, too, but that had stopped bleeding by the time Bill got her home.  Actually, there really hasn't been much actual bleeding at all - just some glistening seepage if you look at her face from a certain angle.  I cleaned it off with some gentle first aid wipes I had for just such an occasion (since they seem to be at least a yearly thing with her), and Bill went to CVS to get some juice and milk and other things we needed.

I brought both kids downstairs and we sat on the couch and started watching "The Wizard of Oz," and when Bill came home, not only had he picked up juice, milk, bread, and more first aid stuff for her face...he also brought each kid a Pez dispenser and for Julia - "the blood-faced girl" as Alex fondly calls her - a bag of assorted Easter candy - various chocolate things and a hideous pink marshmallow bunny. 

Bill sat there, guilt oozing from his pores at far greater speed than anything oozed from Julia's face, and loaded up the Pez dispensers and handed out candy to Julia with both hands and a promise that she could eat whatever she wanted.   

Both kids went through a couple of Pez refills each, and several bites of every piece of chocolate and marshmallow.

Here's the debris:

She's sleeping on the couch now, and, despite her appearance, she's fine. 

She's a tough little chick.

And that's what inspired this little dress up/photo shoot a couple hours ago...

Terminator:  The Sarah Connor Pre-K Chronicles  (my choice)

or

Julianator  (Bill's choice.)

Comments

[Veronica]

My goodness!! She is one accident-prone little girl! I am glad that she seems to be taking it very well - maybe helped by the extra Daddy attention?

[Jayne]

I wouldn't say accident-prone, since it only seems to be a once-a-year thing. But she's definitely been banged up more than Alex has.

The attention from Daddy helped - but I think the fact that it's mostly all surface scratches is a big help, too. Daddy needs to be careful - Julia's smart - I told him yesterday he could be giving her a car or something if this happens when she's in her teens, at the rate he's going now.

[Mom]

Oooowwwwww!!! What an ending to a fun trip. I'm sure that Dad felt awful. Be happy when Julia's face heals.
She's a cutie.
mhyg