another milestone

Joaquin got his first stitches last night in the ER. I know what you're thinking...."That's the FIRST time?"

Here's what happened:
We left for music class early yesterday...Juan Pablo and Diego were taking a nap...so I thought, "Let's play at the playground a little before class so the house will be quiet for them". And what a beautiful day it was. So we got to the playground and were playing tag...and I was it. He was trying to get away from me and slipped and went face first onto those metal platforms. Don't you just wish you could rewind five minutes in time and do things just a little differently?

I'd have just let them play at home.
I'd have made them wear tennis shoes, not flipflops.
I'd have let them just climb instead of playing tag.
I'd have made the rule, "just on the ground".

So I knew it would be bad when I turned him over...I was thinking maybe a tooth...but when I turned him over, he had a big gash in his chin. It was an obvious candidate for stitches. I carried him inside the church, blood everywhere. Some nice ladies helped me with ice, and also helped me get my head on straight as to what to do. I tried to reach JP on his cel, but he was still sleeping!!

So I drove home...some nice law abiders helped me maintain the speed limit...picked up JP and Diego and headed to the ER. We got their at 6pm, an apparent rush hour for ERs. We watched people come and go. We watched Hannah Montana on TV without sound. We complained about how long it was taking. We put hand sanitizer on about 10 times. We used the bathroom, twice. We paced. I asked how much longer. We sat. We watched the ER empty out then fill up again. We thought about just going home. Maybe it wasn't that bad a cut. Then we looked at it again and thought we'd better stay. It couldn't be that much longer. Unbelievable! At 8pm, TWO hours later, we got called in.

We got a wonderful nurse and doctor who made us forget about the horrible wait. Joaquin was so brave. Didn't shed a tear. They wrapped him in a sheet like a cocoon, in case he kicked or screamed, but they were surprised at how still he was. It took five minutes and four stitches.