Thanks, Pluto

Kai held on and walked around the coffee table while biting and
smacking a Pluto coaster. I was sitting on the couch next to him
egging him on. "Smack! Smack!" I said as I clapped my hands. He looked
up at me, squinting and wrinkling his nose, going, "Hey hey hey hey!"
Then all of a sudden, he lost balance and sat back down. Bill and I
usually try not to make it a big deal when Kai falls down. If it's not
a bad fall, we go "Bunk!" and smile at him as we help him up. If he
starts crying after we do that, it must hurt so we hold him up in our
arms and reassure him that it's okay. This fall, however, was probably
the worst he has experienced. He was too close to the table, so he hit
his mouth on the side of the table on his way down.

He landed on his bum, shocked, eyes and mouth wide open, and he
started to cry. His cries weren't nearly as bad as I had expected, and
he stopped as soon as he was in my arms. I did a quick look at his
mouth. Everything seemed fine. By now, Kai was smacking Pluto on my
collar bone. I smiled at him and said, "Phew~ You scared mommy." Kai
returned a bloody smile.

"OMG!! MY BABY'S BLEEDING!!" I screamed in my head.

Then I went into auto-pilot mode: "Cotton. Apply pressure. Stop
bleeding." (very Rain Man, I know). I circled around in the livingroom
for a bit (In case you missed the last few posts, we're now staying
with my cousin. I had no idea where she keeps her First Aid kit, and
she was still asleep). With Kai and Pluto in my arms, I rushed into
Karen's bathroom (cause we keep our First Aid kit in the bathroom). I
did a quick scan and didn't see any kit, so (you have to promise not
to judge ) I grabbed a panty liner from the shelf (Hey, I figured it's
cotton and it's absorbant).

Kai, Pluto, and I went back to the livingroom. I laid Kai down on the
couch and tried to pry his mouth open. The little guy squirmed and
wiggled (holding onto Pluto the whole time), and he would not let me
touch his face. I could see traces of blood on the corners of his
mouth, and he was swallowing it back in! It was a tough situation
'cause I don't want to make it into a bigger deal than it was and
freak Kai out by forcing his mouth open, but I couldn't stop the
bleeding or get an accurate assessment of the injury if I didn't. I
watched for a while as Kai giggling and trying to kick his way out. I
figured if he was being a big pain in the butt, that must mean he
wasn't in a great deal of pain. I had to try to stop the bleeding
though. It was getting on his shirt with his drool.

I sat Kai up on my lap, wrapped the panty liner on Pluto's head, and
voilà! Kai took it right into his mouth. We "played" as I put Pluto in
and out of his mouth, trying to locate where the cut was.

I feel very proud of myself for not panicking or freaking out at Kai's
first bloody accident. I'm one step closer to being able to handle
accidents with calmness and, eventually, humor like Ben's mom. (I hope
he won't mind me sharing this, but I've been aspired ever since he
told me the story): Ben chopped his foot with an ax, and his mom
managed to keep herself together and joked, "Don't you cone into my
house with all that blood."