Kids, Blood and Parenting

After being a parent for as long as I have you've seen pretty much everything. As my wife and I decided to have more babies 7 years ago that meant it had been 9 years since we have had a baby. There isn't much you forget when it comes to babies after you have a few except maybe what will be baby proof after you buy it and bring it home. At least that is how it has worked for us when it comes to kids.

As they get older you kind of expect the same things to happen as they do with all children. The first time they brush their own teeth they try very hard but you still have to help them finish for a few weeks. The first time they take a shower and you have to stick them back in because they are still covered in dirt or have a head full of shampoo. The first time they tie their own shoes and end up with 30 knots until the strings are short enough to not be stepped up. These are all fun things to watch and have happen because it means they are becoming little independent people. It makes you sad and proud in the same breath.

Those are all of the types of things that are easy to remember as it is the true start to their phase of where they want to start doing everything themselves until they later get older and start asking for advice or to be shown how to do something new like what long hand calculus is because they learned on a calculator or maybe how to frame and install a window. Those are the special moments that allow you to bond in a different way once the children are older but before they break your heart and leave home.

Those are the fun moments that as a parent you get to experience. Not everything is fun, take the first day of teaching your child to drive. That is not always a fun day for me but often depends on where the first time behind the wheel is and on which car you happen to be in when they are the right age and finally ask. As you guys know I am currently hurt so I have not been doing any unneeded driving, so no teaching anyone to drive at the moment. This is very good as I have done it many times and my wife decided that she would teach the next three kids to drive since they can all currently learn but don't really want to for whatever reason. Right after I was hurt I got my wife a new F150 that she loves. I can not even climb in and out of it anymore. I told her she should use the van to teach the kids how to drive and that is what I had expected she would do since she is in love with this truck. I guess she decided Tara who is almost 21 would learn to drive on the new truck. I am not exactly sure what happened but my wife came home after taking her to an empty 1-acre parking lot and immediately asked me if my friend still his sisters Honda for sale as the kids needed something to learn how to drive on that was not the truck. This is one of those moments when you get to be the parent that gets to laugh at the terror on the face of the other parent.

These are all fun moments as a parent but are not the reason for my post today. Today my wife and I experienced pure panic. Our son Snow had just gone to bed, and we hear a thump above us and he starts screaming and crying hysterically. We both figured he fell out of bed so my wife called up and asked him if he was okay. He replies, No, there is blood everywhere! Screaming and crying the whole time. I had already gotten up and made my way out of my office to hear better. I looked at her and asked if he said blood. She said yes before calling upstairs to ask him if he was able to come downstairs. He said yes through cries of what sounded like pure terror to my ears as I was unable to run up and see what was wrong and my wife had the baby.

He comes around the corner of the stairs and looks fine except for crying like crazy. I ask him where is the blood and he goes hysterical again, it's in my mouth, he said. Let me see what happened I said to him and he just kept crying. Finally, he calmed down and we asked him to show us his mouth. He said, no I don't want to get in trouble. At this point, I am thinking he had a bad dream and there was nothing wrong. He finally looks at me and said he pulled his tooth out and it would not go back in, LMAO. He was half asleep and lost his first tooth but had pulled it out himself. I reminded him of when the puppy lost his tooth and it just meant that he was growing up and his 6th birthday is this month. He quickly replied, my teeth are supposed to fall out. I am not supposed to pull them out myself.

The first tooth is always different with each one no matter how well you plan it or explain it to them in advance. This is just one of the things that always catches me off guard with each child as they continue to grow. The best part is that there wasn't even any blood, lol.