Saturday was a warm lazy day. Ben wasn't feeling great so I took Henry with me to get the oil changed in Ben's car. I think there's some kind of weird correlation between good weather and Ben feeling ill, because he always seems sick when it's nice out, never when it's rainy. Anyway, we went to the Chick-Fil-A to grab lunch and kill time while the car was in the shop. Henry wolfed down his nuggets and hurried to the playroom. I sat in there to watch him play. The playroom has this big playhouse thing with tiered platforms leading up to little rooms and slides and stuff. Henry really likes it but he's got a little bit of a fear of heights, so getting the courage to climb up to the slide takes him a while sometimes. The last time he had no problems, but this time he'd regressed somewhat and wouldn't go up past the third "step," spending a lot of time mostly running around and watching other kids go up. He was nervous about the stability of the structure, but I helped him understand that it was very sturdy and that he couldn't possibly fall off. I gently encouraged him to try one step at a time, to see if he could get up to the fourth step and gradually he made it up to the slide level. He wouldn't go any higher to the rooms on top, but he went up to the slide again and again. He counted each time he went up and was very pleased when he'd done it ten times. After a while some more kids came in to play, including a little girl who was afraid to climb up the platforms. Henry very sweetly told her that he'd been afraid, too, but he wasn't anymore and offered to help her up. She need more convincing that Henry could give, but I thought it was nice of him anyway.
I like seeing Henry's personal successes. A couple weekends ago he went to a friend's birthday party at a community center. All the kids were given plastic kites and Henry really wanted to fly his. With very minimal help from me, he assembled the kite and took off with it. Moments later I was very surprised to see him running around the circumference of the room, his kite flying high about an inch below the ceiling, the long red tails rippling behind. He had such a happy, triumphant look on his face that I just sat there and grinned.
Yesterday Ben sloughed work (he took a personal day) because he was tired and not feeling well. I let him sleep in and went quietly (as quietly as I could anyway) about my day. He got up around noon and I made us some grilled cheese sandwiches. After lunch we went for a nice long walk through the neighborhood. It was a warm sunny day and it was really nice to have some time alone with Ben. I enjoyed the warm weather so much that after Henry got home from school I took him to the park. We were about halfway to our destination before I noticed that Henry had forgotten his helmet. Oh, well. A little extra precaution ensured that he didn't fall off and split his head open. At the park Henry ditched his bike with me and went to make some new friends. We finished the day with a family outing to the library and that night Henry read one of my all time favorites, Bears in the Night.
Today was another beautiful day. I cheerfully sent Henry off on the bus and then went over to his school to do some busy work. Said busy work included cutting different shapes out of colored paper. I eventually got the die cutter to work and got some hexagons made, finished some little rectangles, and was moving on to big rectangles, when my happy spring-feverish brain drifted off to stupidville. I was rearranging the paper on the paper cutter and switched hands to hold up the cutting blade, when I noticed somewhat belatedly that I'd grabbed the blade arm not by the handle, but by the blade itself. Whoops. The blade slid right through the skin between my thumb and forefinger. It was with some disgust and shock that I noticed that I could see all the way through the severed flap of skin to the tissue below and decided it might benefit me to see a doctor, for just in case. Luckily there was someone there today who had some bandaids in her purse and the school nurse hooked me up with some gauze, an icepack and a latex glove so I wouldn't bleed all over my car. Not that the cut was spouting blood or anything. It just looked really nasty, and to my chagrin, nauseating to me. The school nurse had me sit for a little bit "until I got some color in my face." I think I'm usually white as death anyway, but the thought of me fainting over so trivial an injury amused me. I drove myself down to a walk in clinic, pleased that my old gas-guzzling grandpa-mobile really came in handy, no pun intended, since because it's an automatic, I didn't have any trouble driving with one hand. I did have to wait seemingly forever and a day, though, before my hand was inspected and taped up. As a precaution I got a tetanus shot as well.
And now, though I really want to go outside and ready the flower beds, I've got to stay inside and keep my hand clean and dry.
4 comments:
Now there's a secret star next to your name on volunteer lists. It alerts teachers that while you are great at cutting various shapes, you also liked to include body parts in the cutting. I know, I've MADE those secret stars before.
I love that Henry was sweet and encouraging to the scared little girl. Those are my happiest moments as a parent.
Henry sounds like such a sweet boy. How blessed you are!
and OUCH! I can see me doing something like that...I am always cutting myself on something. I hope it heals quickly!
You really know how to tell a story! You had me cringing and wincing. Hope you heal quickly.
yeah, there's now an "incident report" with my name attached to it. i bet they won't let me near any sharp objects now. :)
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