Have I ever mentioned how amazing my kid is? Because he's pretty great. As a baby I didn't have to worry about his putting random objects into his mouth because, unless it was obviously food, he wasn't into that. He doesn't like climbing on things or running too fast for fear he'll fall and bump his head. He doesn't like getting dirty (this one makes going to the coast rough). I could go on. He does enjoy "helping" and doing things for himself. These traits can sometimes vacillate between being super cute and super obnoxious. The point: I have never had a serious scar or trip to the ER before.
Hulk has been potty-trained for over a year now but he still seeks affirmation. He'll run up to me while I'm in the kitchen, "Mommy! Mommy! I went pee and washed my hands!" And I'll respond by telling him good job and that I'm proud of him (at what point does using the potty stop being point of pride?? I think we're ready to reach that...). So, one morning last week I had just finished packing our lunches and we were about to head out the door for the day when Hulk decided he needed to go potty. So he went, came out running to tell me he went poop and that he now needed to flush the toilet and wash his hands (great!). He then runs back into the bathroom. At this point I hear a thud. I wait a second. Hulk starts crying. I walk into the bathroom and he's sitting on the floor with a bit of blood on his forehead. I sit down on the floor, move him to my lap, and ask him if he's ok, what happened, etc. He cries and tells me he hit is head on the toilet. We have a stool that he moves between the toilet and the sink and I think when he bent down to pick it up he moved to quick and bumped his head. So I wipe up the blood with some toilet paper and look at his war wound. It's not big, but it's deep, and I can see fascia. I contemplate super glueing it but it's on his face so I'd like to avoid too much scaring. So I pull out my phone and start googling where to go for stitches.
Usually I'd go to my favorite doctor but we're currently over 2000 miles apart (boo!). I call Hulk's pediatrician's office, no, they don't do stitches. So I start looking for the closest Urgent Care Center and load my crying child into the car. At the Center there is only a doctor, nurse, and a receptionist. They claimed they didn't have any anesthesia so we'd have to hold him down. Again, if it wasn't on his face I would not have minded. So I load him back into the car. By this point the initial shock has worn off and he's pretty mellow. I tell him we're going to the hospital and he becomes excited because that's where the ambulances are (spoiler: we didn't see any ambulances and he was disappointed).
Long story short: I have a love/hate relationship with the ER. I love how friendly, kind, and intelligent the staff are. They made Hulk feel comfortable and let him watch kids' TV shows to distract him while the doctor worked (this was a big deal for him as we restrict his screen time at home). I hate that we spent 2.5 hours there for roughly 10 minutes of work and he's been asking to watch The Adventures of Chuck and Friends since.
If you're to ask Hulk what happened to his forehead he becomes animated and starts talking about trucks. :)
ps. Trying to get your child to hold still for a picture of his stitches is impossible. I probably have a hundred of these on my phone. #ugh
But he's still cute :)
