Does anyone recall 15 months being a really tricky time for toddlers? Because this kid is a mess. We've gone from a damn fine sleeper to a kid who wakes up every 2-3 hours sobbing. I know his teeth hurt - he's getting them all in at once (he will have a complete set of teeth in a few days) but the usual Tylenol/Motrin cocktails don't seem to be helping much. All he wants to do is chew on his blankie and refuse to eat and cry and cry and cry and never, ever sleep.
I wouldn't mind the wakings so much if he'd go back down, but the pre-dawn rousing (3 am, most days) is particularly brutal. I rock, I pat, I hum, while he just blinks and sighs and gnaws on his blankie. He's clearly exhausted but it's like his little brain won't shut off. We've gone through this before, but after a week of not getting more than 2 hours of solid sleep I'm starting to get mean. As I was cleaning the bathroom this morning I noticed that the boy had become suspiciously silent. I found him underneath the desk, fondling the wiring. The thought of Mr. Teeth using his newly acquired choppers to test out our babyproofing skills made me a little uneasy so I crawled underneath the desk and tried to scootch him toward his toys.
This went about as well as you'd imagine.
Forgetting that my son is a toddler and not a cat, I misjudged his reflexes. Instead of scooting toward safety I heard a sharp CRACK - and then silence.
You know that moment when a child tries to wail but nothing comes out? Like the pain is too intense for sound?
Yeah, scary, that.
Did I mention the blood?
Baby boy had taken a header, cutting his lip on his big front teeth. I tried to see if he'd knocked any out but there was so much screaming and blood and wetness that I could barely see anything. Let me tell you, mouth wounds don't kid around. SO MUCH BLOOD. It reminded me of a story a woman told me about the time her daughter slammed her finger in a door. The mother said that she was so scared, all she could do was laugh hysterically. There's something about seeing your kid experience true pain for the first time that ratches up the awful. AND I'D CAUSED IT! Talk about guilt. Eventually he calmed down and drank some water (blood all over the cup) and gnawed on an apple (it was the only thing I could think of that was cold that he'd keep on his mouth) and then collapsed in an exhausted heap.
Oy.
I know that some of you have dealt with surgeries and broken bones - a cut lip ain't nothin'. But if this is just the beginning, mama needs a drink.
2 comments:
Noooo blood is never good. Especially not when the circumstance is like this. I would say 15 months is a pretty good run for no blood. By this time with each kid at least once I had drawn blood while trying to trim fingernails.
The possiblities for mommy guilt are endless it seems.
Those cuts in the mouth and on the head do bleed horribly. It takes all my willpower when faced with that much blood not to run out the door to the nearest er.
Hope his boo boo is better soon!
Heads and mouths bleed a lot. It probably all feels worse to you and to him because nobody is sleeping. You'll make it through mama! But feel free to have a glass of wine.
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