Rules... and Life Lessons

Rule:  ALWAYS shut the gate to the basement and entry.
Lesson Learned:  When the gate is left open, small ones are likely to fall.  Phoenix nearly took a tumble.  Jericho did.  Levi's description was that she flipped all the way down.  After a trip to the ER and a scan, as well as a visit to the chiropractor, she was finally declared "okay".  But, she had a concussion.  Thanking God that the scan was clear.  I don't get too freaked out when my kids get hurt, but she was acting so strange, and throwing up, and I was VERY concerned for her.

Rule:  Don't play in the woodshed.
Lesson Learned:  Levi chose to disobey that rule.  We had an old, empty cable spool stored in there (on it's side, so it rolled) and he decided to play on it.  In the process he fell backward and hit his head square on the edge of a granite block leaned against the "wall".  There was much blood, but after cleaning it up we determined the wound wasn't that deep.  He sat with an icepack for quite a while, and was pretty subdued the rest of the day.  The next morning he started throwing up.  After a day of that, with TWO visits to the chiro, I finally gave in and took him to the ER.  Another scan.  No damage, but was diagnosed with "post-concussion syndrome".  I can't even begin to count the number of times his head has been bumped since then... makes me so nervous!!  But, again, thanking God that all is well.

Rule:  Stay in our yard unless you've asked permission to go elsewhere.
Rule:  Please, don't bother the neighbors. (this is not a safety issue, more of a politeness issue...)
Rule:  Don't bother the neighbor's dog when he's tied up.
Lesson Learned:  Shiloh came home crying (but not hard) with blood on her arm.  I took her arm from her sleeve, and immediately covered it back up and gave her specific instructions not to look at it.  The next thing I did was call Tim at work and tell him to come home, NOW.  Next call was to the clinic, to determine if I needed to bring her there, or to the ER.  We were told ER because if she got hysterical or was in too much pain they would have stuff they could give her.  She was SO calm the entire time.  It was kind of unreal!  We waited over an hour and a half for a room.  Finally, we were brought back.  All they did was clean the wound, do an x-ray, and send us home.  She's been a real trooper about the whole thing, but the dog bite is sure to leave a lifetime scar.  The only time she almost cried was when they injected the wound with lidocaine to numb it.  Now we have to change the dressing every day and she's on abx to head off any possible infection.  They don't stitch bites because of the risk of closing in an infection.  (I do have a picture Tim took before they cleaned the wound... I'm sparing you, but if you'd like to see it, let me know and I'll email it to you...  I think that of the two people that actually read my blog, one of them has seen it, and the other doesn't want to.  You're welcome, mom!!)

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We are always telling our kids that we make rules to help keep them safe, NOT to be mean.  The prior examples all happened recently in our home (the last two were both in the last 7 days).  I've officially declared that no one is allowed to get hurt and go to the ER until NEXT year... at least!!

I should add, our Heavenly Father does the same for us.  The "rules" he has for us are meant to keep us safe, to guard our hearts.  It's a great reminder.

As for our home, I hope the next several months are MUCH less, um, dramatic. 

Speaking of drama... Shiloh, who didn't cry at all about the bite, started crying and whining when I tried cutting her toenails this morning.  I told her she was not allowed to cry about that because I KNEW it didn't hurt... and if the dog bite didn't make her cry, there was no way she was that big of a wimp.  What a little turkey!  LOL