All Boy

I guess I need to get used to it. There really is no denying it now and no reason to pretend it's any different. Carter is all boy and that means MANY bumps, scrapes, bruises and stitches. Yes stitches. He already has gotten stitches once (and yes he is only 20 months old) and today I thought he would be getting his second set.

The boys were climbing on the couch as usual giggling with such glee I just couldn't stop them. They were using little stools to climb up to the edge of the couch. Carter tripped on his way back to climb up again and fell with his chin onto the stool. He immediately started screaming - the same scream that I heard when he fell out of his stroller. I picked him up and saw that his upper chin , just below the lip, was bleeding. I look in his mouth which is just splitting out blood. My first instinct was that his teeth went all the way thru his lip. This happened to me when I was about his age and I still have the scar from the stitches to prove it.

I call Justin who tells me to call the doctor and put some ice on it. The nurse informs me that mouths usually do a great job of healing themselves but to come in during the after hours clinic (a couple hours later) to have him checked out. She also suggested some Tylenol and a popsicle. We get to the doctors and the nurse looks at it thinking all that would have to be done would glue it. Justin arrived soon afterward as the doctor was looking at it. It seems that his teeth didn't go thru his mouth. He just had two separate cuts (well actually three, as he has two puncture wounds and a lot of bruising inside his mouth). So no stitches, no glue, no nothing. Just given the directions to use some spray mouthwash and keep it clean. And I breathe a sigh of relief.

However I am well aware that this will not be the last time. Carter is fearless and wants to do everything Tyler does. Even after the fall he wanted to keep climbing on everything. I just need to accept that he is all boy and will probably have many more scrapes, bumps, bruises, and stitches. I may get lucky and we won't have many more doctor visits, but in a family of all boys I just don't think its very likely.

*Just want to add that yes I do watch my boys. Carter got this one simply by walking and tripping. So why I may be a little less cautious when it comes to my kids as some I am also, what Justin says, "doing a good job of letting them be boys".