Saturday, September 24, 2011

First Hospital Visit

Well, given Seth's fearless attitude towards life, it was bound to happen...a visit to Emerg.  Thankfully it turned out well.

On Wednesday afternoon (not that long after the using-the-air-mattress-as-a-tobaggan-down-the-staircase activity), Seth was apparently standing straight upright on the back of our tall family room couch.  I say apparently because I didn't see him standing there...I saw the empty air just after I heard the crash of his head against the window sill about six inches off the floor.

It took an hour to stop the bleeding from the wound on his head.  When I could finally dig through his hair to see what was going on, I could see that the gash wasn't very long, but it did appear to be pretty deep.  So Geoff took him to Emerg when he got home.  Thankfully, the doctor was able to fix it up with glue, rather than with stitches, but we now have a wad of glue mucking up those lovely curls.

My mother likes (repeatedly) to advise me that I should calm the boys down and curb their wild dashes around the house/yard.  I have (just as repeatedly and with a great deal more desperation) asked her for her advice on how to do this with boys who have more energy that I have ever possessed, on a cumulative basis.  This is where she falls silent.  And with good reason.  My boys, particularly the younger one, are unbelievably active and energetic.  That day alone, we'd been outside for a considerable period of time (riding bikes, walking, playing), the boys had played through an intense hour of gym class, and we'd finished school for the day.  And still they felt that, where possible to run instead of walk, they would run; where possible to climb rather than to run, they would climb; and where possible to toboggan instead of to descend, they would toboggan.  As I have said to my mother, other than taking them off of their vitamins and hoping that this would sap them of even a little bit of their energy, it is simply water off of a duck's back to tell either of my boys to sit down/stay still/stop running.  From the time that they get up until the time that they fall asleep they move, and they actively seek out ways to expend that energy.

So, luckily this time, our trip to Emerg ended with a simple application of a glue gun.  But I know, I really just know, that it's just a matter of time before stitches are required.

6 comments:

  1. Oh poor little man. Hope he is back to himself (but more safely) very soon - although, he probably already is!

    L

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  2. Glad all turned out well. We took Lily to the ER less than two weeks after placement, after she fell directly onto the top of her head from a kitchen chair, onto ceramic tile. The screaming was intense and took a while to settle, and of course, I had never felt to see if she still had a "soft spot", so couldn't be sure if the "dent" had already been there, or if it was new. Our rural hospital didn't want to make the call (she seemed fine), so sent us to the city's children's ER for a second opinion. Got home sometime around 2:00 or 3:00am with a clean bill of health. Anyway, such is life, I suppose. As to active boys, not sure what to say. Ours would happily run and climb and holler all day, too, but I have pretty much no tolerance for sensory overload, and don't have any safe, open spaces for that sort of thing in our place (plus the baby, two big, somewhat skittish dogs, etc.) and just won't let them get too wild indoors. I invite them to go outside if they need to run, and would likely resort to separating them and having them sit with books or colouring if they didn't respond to cueing. I do think they sometimes get MORE wound up the more activity they have had in a day, and we have been doing lots of talking about helping our bodies calm down in various ways when they start into the hyper zone. Anyway, I think a lot of it depends on what you are willing and able to tolerate, and what works for your home and lifestyle.

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  3. Active IS good! :) Both of my boys have been in for stitches, and I'm thinking my girls will be in for them sometime, too! Sometimes the activity level in my house drives me crazy, but in reality, I'm thankful they're active and not sitting staring at a screen...although I'm hoping fall lasts a long time because I'm not ready for the long winter that keeps us all inside much of the time.

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  4. I agree with Sharon. Your boys are actually living and experiencing life. It only seems that they are overly active because of what society expects of them. Kids aren't aloud to just be kids any more and figure out how life works for themselves (or experiment with tobogganing down the stairs). 50 years ago they wouldn't have been considered "over active", it's our over parenting that has given them and other kids that label. You might enjoy this article http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1969/12/how-to-land-your-kid-in-therapy/8555/
    I think it will give you reassurance with how you parent. It doesn't talk directly about active boys, but more about sheltering our kids too much.

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  5. It really was bound to happen sooner or later!!! Glad that he is okay. As for advice for getting active boys to calm down, the best I have is move to the country and let them climb trees, scrape their knees, explore, and run!

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  6. Glad that Seth is ok- poor little guy, although I'm sure the experience won't slow him down one bit. :) I second the other comments that it's GREAT the boys are so energetic-way better than the alternative. I'm making a conscious effort to overcome my instict to always say "be careful, be careful" (within reason of course)to my girls because I WANT them to develop courage and test their limits. I think it is great that you have energetic, curious, creative kids (although exhausting!) :)

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