bump.

Wow, today has been weird. Ben woke up an hour or so early, has been cranky since minute 1, and things have just been out of whack since.

We went to visit Auntie D and Cambelle and Chloe today. Since the weather was supposed to be nice (but where's the sun?), we were going to take the kids to the park. But that all changed when Ben tripped and fell - and went headfirst into one of Cambelle's chairs in her playroom.

WOW. He fell, and started crying, and I knew the fall had probably hurt him. He's a tough cookie and cries rarely, so I went to him and picked him up to soothe him. I had probably had him in my arms for 3 seconds when I looked at his forehead.


I don't think I'm particularly squeamish. I like watching medical shows on Discovery Health - the ones that show surgeries, broken bones, etc. But after I looked at his head once, I had a hard time looking at it again. His fall had left a bump that had already swollen to the size of a BIG grape, and it was already black and blue. Danielle and I looked at it and we both couldn't believe how big it was - it was laughable.

Ben settled down quickly and was back to trying to open and close doors, and grabbing food out of Danielle's pantry (because I don't feed him enough?), so I knew that he was okay. Just to be sure, I called my sister in-law Kelly (who's cool as a cucumber in any situation), and then the pediatrician. The pediatrician said that as long as he didn't lose consciousness afterwards, and as long as he didn't throw up, that he's probably fine. She said it was better for the swelling to be done on the outside of the head, rather than the inside.


So I asked Danielle to take pictures. I can't tell you how hard it was for us not to laugh at Ben (okay, we laughed at him) because he had this HUGE knot on his head but still wanted to sit, and eat, and flirt, and run around the house. Poor Cambelle avoided him after the fall - we think she was afraid of his huge forehead growth. He looked like Hellboy (who looks super scary but is actually a good monster, for all of those concerned).


So we're home now. Ben is in his room and I'm hoping he'll nap - the pediatrician said I should put him down like normal. So I'm hoping he relaxes enough to go to sleep. Here's how he looked on the ride home: a significant improvement already.