TraumaRama

I can't believe that it has been a month since my last post. I have started at least two since then, but I just haven't been able to untangle my mind enough to write anything even slightly coherent. I am not sure that I've yet reached the point that I CAN write something coherent, but at this point of the morning it is quiet around here and it's the best chance I'll have all day.

To start, it has been a tough month for me. Up to the first part of June, Cayton was still attending her school/day care and Vivi and I had the place to ourselves. Starting June 1, Cayton began staying home full time and Vivi and I just did not know what we were in for. Now, when Cayton was a newborn, my world was "fairly shook" by her arrival and I thought that caring for a baby was just about the most difficult thing that I could ever do. Well, it was. That is, until she hit the toddler years. So, by comparison, Vivi has been a a breeze. But, the combination of a three-year-old and a newborn is the very definition of a mindscrew (to put it mildly). So, this adjustment period could be the reason I haven't written much of late.

Adding to the difficulty of advanced parenting is my oldest child's genetic gift (from me) for hurting herself or being involved in freak accidents. You may remember Harvey Attacks 2008. Well, following that was Staples of Death. Most recently, last weekend in fact, was Gravity Strikes! We were going to take the kids to the zoo in OKC with my parents and my sister. Well, about 5 minutes after arriving at the zoo, Cayton fell off her daddy's shoulders and smacked her head on the concrete. We thought she was going to shake it off, but about an hour later, she started vomiting and we ran full out to the EMTs there at the zoo. After a quick check, the EMT said that she was going to be fine because she hadn't lost consciousness and her pupils were reacting and she was alert. He told us to keep her awake for at least an hour or so. With that, we left the zoo then and headed back to my sister's house. Along the way, Cayton began to look worse and she kept drifting off to sleep. Just looking at her mouth hanging open and the droopy eyes, we were worried. So, we decided to go to the minor emergency clinic. We thought that was a good idea after she started throwing up again. They sent us over to the ER for an X-ray. After the ER doctor said that she was fine, we were able to breathe again. She was ecstatic that she had gained at least three stickers and a popsicle.

Since that incident, Cayton has tried everything in her ever growing repertoire of tricks to damage herself. I took her to a sprinkler park and she managed to bust her bee-hind on the concrete there and at her Meme's house she performed a flip right into the wall. So, now, she has a nice set of bruises on her back. They go great with the black eye from Gravity Strikes! that is just now beginning to fade. You would think that my tiny girl was going around picking fights. But, Mama keeps telling me that these things happen with little kids and that I'll have to toughen up. I'm sure she speaks from experience given that I managed to knock a hole in my head when I was two and I bit through my lower lip when I was in the fifth grade. This is in addition to all the other injuries that didn't require a trip to the ER. So, I guess she's right about the toughening up part. Either that, or my one glass of wine a night routine might get out of hand...

But, things are not all trauma and mayhem around here. Staying at home with the girls has given me the luxury of time to wallow in their childhood and to soak up all the sweetness that I can take. Although some times I think I will go mad trying to take care of everything that they need, I am wise enough to see that this is the deal that you make as a parent. Kids are the most wonderful and, at times, the most terrible thing that will ever happen to you. But, you can't expect to be given something so extraordinary without paying a price. For me, that price is likely to be my sanity. But really, I think I've come out good on this deal. I've never really been all that sane anyway...