The Injury

Toddlers are prone to injuries. I think it's just a fact of life. At least once a day, Jack asks for me to "tiss" a boo boo. I was certain he'd have a broken bone by the age of 2, but alas we escaped his first two years without a single visit to the ER for a serious injury. I'm baffled by this as he really seems to have no fear: he leaps off the sofa, climbs whatever he can, runs at top speed, and races up and down the steps in our house.

However, on Thursday morning last week, while the house was still dark, he was chasing Shergar (which he's not supposed to do) while I was in the kitchen getting his breakfast ready. All of a sudden, I heard a VERY loud "crack" and then silence. Silence is never a good sign. It means a scream is coming. Sure enough, about five seconds later, he let out a blood-curdling scream. I raced into the living room to find him crumpled on the floor near the window. I think he must have tripped (probably just over his feet as there was nothing on the floor... he takes after me I guess in the clutz department) and smashed his head on the window sill (which is only about 12 inches off the floor). It took me a few minutes to figure out where he was hurt. I was looking for blood on his head and eventually found that it was his cheekbone and eye area that got the brunt of the hit. It took me a half hour of rocking, singing, and talking softly for him to stop screaming. He has NEVER cried that long after an injury. Mick was gone (had travel for two full weeks in a row... boy was I happy to see him this weekend and give up the single-parent duties!) so I then had to determine whether the injury was severe enough for a trip to the ER. I decided his eye was fine and his pupils looked correctly dilated (no concussion) so decided we'd care for it at home. I tried ice -- multiple times -- and every time was met with shrieking protests. So I decided to skip the ice. No need to make the kid even more upset. About an hour after the injury, Jack decided he wanted a banana, which he wolfed right down... and then asked for another (which, of course, I gave him). He then got it in his head that it's not ice that fixes an injury, but a banana. Hey - if it works for him, it works for me.

I took a slew of pictures to keep Mick updated throughout the day on the state of the injury. Here are a few of them:

One hour post injury