Eventful Friday

Yes, it's one of those things that we will inevitably look back on and laugh, but poor Larson did not find it so funny yesterday :(

Most of the time, when a kid is really sick or hurt, it's pretty obvious. Or even if it's not at the outset, it's still pretty easy to determine with a little probing. When a curious, energetic three-year-old refuses to open his eyes, despite all kinds of enticements, you know something's up. Especially when that something was preceded by a poke in the eye by another 3-year-old finger.

Took him in to the clinic (yea! avoided yet another ED visit!) where a fluorescein exam confirmed that he had a whopping corneal abrasion on his right eye (that's a scratch on the cornea, in layman's terms). That exam produced a lot of kicking and screaming. A lot. Whew, was I glad when it was over. Then in the car on the way home, after several minutes of silence, I heard: "I didn't want to open my eyes for the doctor," in a quiet, calm voice. Good thing my adrenaline was still pumping, or I probably would have starting blubbering right then and there. I mean, I just had to help hold him down so someone could pry open his painful eye and now he was basically apologizing for getting all worked up about it. Kids never cease to amaze me. He even let us put the antibiotic ointment in his eye without objection so that it would "get better really fast."

At home, Larson asked if he could watch a movie. So, we put on the only feature-length DVD we own ("Monster's Inc") and he "listened" to it on the couch and devoured at least half a box of goldfish crackers. I thought I should probably relax the rules a little after all the trauma of the afternoon...

The amazing thing about the eye is that the cornea can regenerate itself literally overnight. So this morning, when Larson woke up and still wouldn't open his eyes, I was a little worried at first. After a while, though, we realized that he was probably just scared, because gradually Brett saw him trying to peek out and then when he was brave enough to open them all the way and realize it didn't hurt anymore, he was sooooo excited!!!

Ah, the journey of parenthood. You never know what is around the next bend. Here I thought I was going to have a quiet Friday afternoon studying for my epidemiology final. Fell a little short in that department, but I did get all the Easter candy purchased while waiting at the pharmacy, holding Larson with eyes closed shut the whole time, completely oblivious to all that chocolate and sugar...