the frenulum incident

When Ceci was around two, we were playing at Westside Park one day with some friends, and she decided to take a spin on the slide.  It was not a large slide, nor was it an unusual choice of play structures for her.  She was wearing these really cool pink boots with flowers on the side.  Well, somehow, the boot made contact with her face, and next thing I know there is a heinous amount of blood pouring out of somewhere on her face.  She's crying, Meredith is frantically searching for a towel, and I am trying to pry her mouth open to see where all this blood is coming from.  After everyone calmed down a little, I was able to determine that she had split this little flap of skin above and between her two front teeth.  I called my dad to see if I needed to get her stitches, a formidable task, but he said that it was okay, that part (called the frenulum) eventually goes away, and that it was no surprise (to him anyway) how much it bled.  (Meredith and I still talk about that day.  I don't know that we have recovered.)  

Why am I telling this story?  Because today I think Malcolm had his own frenulum incident.  He is a mover and a shaker these days yet still very unsteady.  He likes to try things he's probably not developmentally ready for.  He does cry quite raucously when he inevitably falls, and I am more than a little concerned he is going to give himself a concussion.  At 9 months, he thinks he should be able to stand, and some 9 month olds can, but Malcolm is not one of them.  He also thinks he can climb.   He will crawl over to his high chair/ the sofa/ the ottoman, pull up on it, then bring up that right knee like he's just gonna clamber right up there.  Today he was playing on the floor with a basket of toys and decided to crawl over the basket, which was on its side.  As he is ascending, the basket falls forward and shoots Malcolm over it and onto the floor.  He starts crying, and I pick him up to give him a hug.  I'm thinking maybe he got a little rugburn on his cheek.  When he pulls his head away from my chest, there is blood smeared all over my shirt and skin, all over his face, and even in his hair.  I was like, "Whoa!"  I ran to the kitchen, Henry hot on my heels, to try and wash Malcolm off and find the source.  I have yet to determine if it was his frenulum. Because it did not bleed nearly as much as Ceci's, I am inclined to think he may have just cut his lip.  It was too swollen to tell, and then we were running errands all morning.  I did notice a little blood in his mouth later, and it seems like it is sensitive, so it may well be.  Sheesh.  

So this was my day.  Bloody mouth, school, Target, Goodwill, school, take a friend to a carplace,  lunch, and now, lucky for me, everyone is napping.   I love what I do. (and not just because everyone is napping)