ER

To the untrained eye, this would appear simply to be a tunnel piece from a Brio train set:

However, a discerning eye would note its possible use in a sword fight as a laser that should be projected (thrown) at the enemy.

This afternoon there were lots of giggles and laughter as Austin and Matthew were playing sword fight with Brio train pieces. Their mother insisted they stop, and as most two- and four-year-old boys would do, they went in the other room and continued to do it anyway. Within just a few minutes great screams of anguish erupted. Austin was wounded and came running out with blood seeming to be everywhere. Once he was washed up we found all the blood to be coming from a cut just above his lip, about one half inch in length. Ray examined it all carefully and determined that because the cut went all the way through to the inside of Austin's mouth we should take him to the ER. Ray patched him up with a spiderman moustache (bandaid) and Audrey, Austin and I went to the hospital. The reason I went along was that Audrey passes out just thinking of the sight of blood - so I was the backup maternal figure.

While we were getting ready to go, I asked Matthew what had happened. He said, "We play swords. I shot the laser at Austin." This is when he showed me the laser (see above picture).


All the way to the hospital Austin tried to reassure Audrey that he felt much better, and it would be just fine if we went back home. To no avail. We went to the hospital anyway.

Audrey holding Austin - she does great with no blood in sight.

Austin waiting patiently for the doctor to come. Because his pajamas are red you can't see all the blood spatters.

He has no idea what is in store!

Here's the cut, pre-stitches. Luckily it was a very clean cut with nice straight edges. What an accurate laser!

Austin did so well! He did scream pretty loudly as they injected straight into the cut several times to numb the area. They had put a numbing cream on first, but it didn't seem to be very effective. Once it was numb they put in three stitches. He laid there very calmly, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. Audrey sat next to the chair, held his hand, and put her head down below her knees. I stayed right there the whole time. I was much better than I would have been with my own children.

Back at home! Three stitches with a steri-strip covering.

The nurse asked Austin what his favorite color is. He said orange. She went out and got an orange sucker, two stickers, and this orange teddy bear. On the way home he said to me, "Next time I will sword fight with Matthew and go back and get a brown bear!" Isn't it amazing what a little anesthetic will do for the pain? I wonder if he'll still be so enthusiastic about doing it all over again when he is no longer numb.