Walking Wounded

Tonight after dinner I told Linus with an exasperated tone, "Please, can you not get hurt anymore?!  My goal is to get you through this week alive."  My words didn't faze him, but I realized that his numerous falls, scrapes, bruises, etc. are making me rather nervous and overprotective.  Sunday on our walk home from the concert at the park, he fell on a path covered with tiny, sharp little rocks.  Both knees were bleeding.  As shown above, Linus was very excited about getting bandages.  Yesterday he fell on the sidewalk out front and added a new wound to one knee, lightly scraped palms, and a scraped nose.  The worst came first thing this morning. Matthew and I were slowly coming to and bolted up when we heard a thump immediately followed by Linus crying very hard.  He was at the foot of our bed.  Matthew pulled him up onto the bed and we realized Linus had dropped a can of apricots on his big toe.  We held him between us and when I looked down I saw that his toe was bleeding.  Matthew, still not quite awake, asked, "Where?"  I said, "His toe!"  Matthew ran to get a bandage while I valiantly tried to keep blood off of the bedding. No such luck. It was on the quilt, sheet, and Matthew's pajamas.  So after Matthew bandaged Linus' toe, with Linus crying very hard the whole time and trying to yank his foot away, Matthew went to shower and Linus and I rested on the bed.  I finally got him relaxed and he dozed off in my arms and I actually got to listen to Morning Edition on NPR.  This never happens!  Yes, it was a silver lining.  

Linus limped around for the first half of the day.  He wouldn't let us put ice on the toe or elevate it.  So much for first aid tips!  I need to write a first aid book for toddlers.  Or maybe one already exists and I just need to lay hands on it.  He decided he wanted to go to the park, even though he was walking around with the one big toe up in the air.  We went and he did okay getting around, but then face-planted when gently swinging on his tummy on the swing.  He wasn't hurt, but I was starting to feel the accumulation of stress from him falling so much.  Then later in the day he tripped on the edge of a throw rug, but managed to catch himself before landing on the floor.  Then he was trotting from one room to another and fell down. After dinner he was playing peekaboo under the table and raised up and bonked his head twice.  Twice!  He has never done this.  Even as a wee tot, he was always conscious of what was above his head and never stood up and bonked himself.   So the head-bonking was the final straw and I became exasperated.  Meanwhile, Linus was playing with a rubber band and I heard Matthew warn him to not hurt his eyes.  I decided it was best for me to tend to the laundry. (Don't worry; OxyClean got the blood out of everything.)

Fast forward to bedtime.  I helped him get onto the couch for me to read him stories.  I swear he was firmly seated and in place next to me.  Apparently the Earth shifted in orbit or something because he managed to fall straight down on his head.  Crazy I tell you.  

He isn't a dare devil and each time he gets hurt he isn't doing something he shouldn't, so what is up?!