Summer Has Arrived

Summer is officially here. Not because the weather went from 38 degrees and snowing two weeks ago to 90+ and not a cloud in sight, not because we bought a new kiddie pool, not even because I am finally able to hang clothes out on the line every day (I have four kids. Yes, I do at least one or more loads of laundry in a day.). No, it is officially here because I had to take Sam in to get stitches in his foot yesterday afternoon. The child was blessed with my grace (and I say that very much tongue in cheek), and when he was feeding his rabbit, he tripped. And dropped the glass jar, which shattered all over the patio. And in turning around to start picking up the pieces, he stepped on one. The cut itself is about the length of my index finger, but the whole thing didn't need stitched-just half of it. 5 stitches, the poor little guy.



Much to be proud of here. Eli called me AFTER he had gotten the bleeding stopped and got a good look at it, at which point he called and very calmly said, "Mom, I really think you need to come look at this." I got home and Sam was laying on the couch with his foot elevated and a cold compress on it, which impressed me to no end. And when we got to the doctor's office, Eli worked really hard at entertaining Sam to take his mind off of the pain, and Sam was very brave and held very still, even when doc. was putting the Novocaine in. He cried really hard, and kept hold of both Eli's and my hand tightly, but he didn't movie his foot AT ALL. What a big boy! It is just a relief to have concrete evidence that they can handle any of the garden-variety type emergencies that might come up.

And why does this signify summer for me? Because in the past 7 years, we have not had a single summer in which at least one of the kids hasn't been injured, and it usually happens at the end of May or the first part of June. We have had split-open heads, stitches in between eyes, broken teeth and teeth that have gone through lips and tongues...there was a terrible four wheeler accident, one of the kind where you just look at the wreckage and think, "Oh my God, how is it possible that only this happened?"...and one memorable summer, I had to take Sam in to have STAPLES put into his head, and Eli in to have his ear stitched up in two places-in the same week. Even Sam very cheerfully said, over ice cream last night, "Well, summer's here!"

Things like this don't throw me, though, which is a relief. And I know that girls get into just as many scrapes as boys do, but MY girl doesn't, so I have just learned that in our house, with three boys, these things are inevitable. They aren't exactly careless, even, just-I don't what word I should use to describe it. Fearless, perhaps? And this shitty thing about it is that there isn't much I can do about it. All evidence to the contrary, the kids are pretty safety-minded...they know to go swimming in pairs, they don't get on anyone's four wheeler or motorcycle without helmets, or without wearing jeans and shoes, they know which side of the road to walk or ride bikes on. I think both of them (and Owen shows all signs of being the same) just seem to be the kind that are accident prone.

So now that we have had our first (and hopefully last) injury, summer can begin. We are going to celebrate tonight by barbecuing hamburgers and seeing if we can't either a. start part of the porch on fire (yep, it has happened) or b. singe some hair off of ONE of us. Hell, maybe I will even be really brave and make some fries in the deep fat fryer.

****Also, everyone, remember that tomorrow is the BlogBlast For Education, brought to you by April. This is going to be really, really awesome, and I encourage you all to participate; it isn't too late, and we all know how important education is.****