First Official

Well, it happened today. June 17, 2008, Amelia's first official bonk. I mean of course, she has bumped her head and fallen down plenty, but this was a little different. Let me first say that she is fine and it did not involve a trip to the doctor's office but it was horrible none-the-less. I knew it was coming, I knew it was only a matter of time, but I did not like it. Not one bit. She finally got her top two teeth on Father's Day, just 2 short days ago!! And ironically, in timely fashion, this morning her knee got caught up on the rug and she fell face first on the hardwood floor, right on her mouth. Ford was with her...I heard the initial cry from the other room and then the proverbial, "it really hurts this time," silence....

You know, that long horrible silence when they are crying so hard that everything stops...and you just wait...there is no sound, no breathing no blinking...nothing except a red face with a wide open mouth and tiny tears that start to spill from the corners of sad squinted eyes...

I came running when I "heard" the silence...and there it was. The first little stream of blood running out of her mouth and down her chin. My heart dropped first and then began beating fast as I scrambled to figure out where she was bleeding from. She finally began to cry. Hard. And we were able to determine that her cute, new little (and very sharp) teeth had cut right into her top lip. Instant fatty. It wasn't too deep and luckily it stopped bleeding fairly quickly and she was willing to suck on a cold wash cloth. She even let me ice it for a while. She's a trooper. Then it was back to life as usual, for her anyway. (Except she couldn't figure out how to eat her puffs with her big fat swollen lip in the way, she didn't let it stop her though).
But for Ford and I, I think life felt a little different.
An initiation of sorts? Welcome to the world of cuts and scrapes, bruises and bonks, slips and falls...and dare I say stitches or broken bones? Yikes, not going there yet.
Logic tells us that there is no way to protect them from every boo-boo. Though try as we might, it's inevitable, it's going to happen, over and over and over. Interestingly enough, in heat of the moment, I noticed my brain scrambling to reassure my emotional self...sounds crazy but it's true. I found myself drawing on every bonk incident I could remember happening to our friends' kids, cousins, our nieces and nephews...I tried to imagine that I myself had been through this scenario, as a mother, several times already in an attempt to reassure myself; to make myself feel better. Honestly, I don't think that helped.
I imagine it will get easier, but let's face it, although you know they'll bounce back, I think it's going to hurt everyone involved each and every time.