Wishing You a Happy and SAFE 4th!

And certainly wishing you a safer 4th than our 3rd was! Yesterday was a rough day for JonZReaTom! Well, more accurately, it was a rough night for half of JonZReaTom and their parents!


It had the makings of a great evening! We went to Michelle and Judah's house for dinner and planned on shooting off some fireworks after it got dark. All the kids could run about and play and we could visit and enjoy Judah's return from China. All went well for awhile. We played. We ate dinner. The kids had all left the table to play, while the adults enjoyed some whine-free conversation, when suddenly Michelle screams as someone hits the floor HARD. From where we were sitting, neither Jim nor I could see who had just fallen from the stairs, but as soon as the crying started, we knew it was Jonathan. Jim rushed to pick him up and headed for the backyard because that's what Jim instinctively does with a hurt child.


Crying child=need for fresh air


I followed him out and we calmed Jonathan down a little and examined his head. He had a bruising scrape on his forehead right along his hairline. I went inside knowing Michelle kept child-friendly ice packs in the freezer for just such occasions as this and she reported seeing him fall from the stairs, apparently having tripped or missed a step about three steps from the bottom. He stuck his hands out to brace himself from the fall, so that should have helped it from being as serious as it could have been.


Naturally he didn't like the ice pack and soon was ready to return to playing with the other kids who had by now all spilled out into the backyard. After forcing him to answer lots of questions and follow fingers around to check his eyesight, we decided he was probably okay and let him go play, but WE KEPT AN EYE ON HIM in case he suddenly started acting strange. Just in case, we decided we would also wake him up a few times during the night. Better safe than sorry!


All returned to normal. Jim and Judah headed to the front of the house to retrieve the fireworks, and Michelle went inside to finish cleaning off the table. I was out back with all the kids. Although it's a little vague in my memory, I believe I was talking to Reagan, telling her for the millionth time what had happened to Jonathan, when I heard Thomas start crying. I looked toward him and he was headed in my direction with his hands up over his face. I assumed he had tripped and fallen and headed to comfort him.



Then he took his hands away from his face and revealed a bloody mess! I ran and scooped him up, then hurried back to the house, knowing all the while that I was leaving the rest of the kids unattended in the backyard. What else could I do? I headed for the kitchen (it's the best sink downstairs and you can see the backyard from the window) and called to Michelle. She set right to work applying pressure and trying to clean him up while I comforted and watched the window.


He hadn't just tripped and hit his head on the ground. He had been hit accidentally with a plastic ball bat! David was practicing and just didn't see him. Poor Thomas! It bled like crazy all over both of us, but the cut itself wasn't too bad, just badly placed. He had a nice straight cut just below his left eyebrow. We're certainly thankful it wasn't any lower! But the proximity to the eye combined with his wriggly age meant (according to Michelle's dr whom she immediately and thankfully called) that he wouldn't get stitches. The dr said an ER visit would result in steri-strips and liquid bandage, all of which Michelle had at her house. So, for better or worse, we decided to attend to the would at Michelle's house, rather than taking him to the ER.


He did pretty well during the doctoring, considering. Michelle is really good at explaining what she's about to do in a way that isn't scary to a child. The bandaging may not be as pretty as what he would have gotten at the ER, but the end result should be pretty much the same. We gave him a sucker for being such a good brave boy, and it wasn't long before he was out running around in the yard with the rest of the kids.


By then it was beginning to get dark, so I settled in on the deck with Abby and Reagan who claimed they were "scared" of the fireworks and spent the rest of the night telling Reagan why there was blood all over my shirt.

Both boys seemed fine the rest of the night. We came home and put them all to bed WAY past their bedtime! We woke Jonathan up when we went to bed and made him tell us his full name. He didn't appreciate that one bit. Around 3 AM we woke up Jonathan and Thomas and made them tell us their names. I woke J up again around 5.

They have both been fine all day. We'll continue to keep an eye on them and particularly on Thomas' wound.

My sincerest hopes that your holiday is happy and injury free! God bless America! Happy 4th!