LuLu's Stitches

There's a running tradition among my children: they must, before reaching maturity, acquire stitches above their eye.

For the 3 year old YaYa it was a fall on my Mother's steps on Easter Sunday. For Smiley it was an accidental dog bite at a neighbor's BBQ when he was ~4. This August 26th, LuLu assumed her place with a trampoline accident in our backyard.

She'd come inside to ask me if she could go to a softball game with a friend. I agreed and she left, but unbeknownst to me she took a few minutes to play on the trampoline with her friend before she left. That's a big no-no, in no small part because no one but my kids are allowed on the trampoline without parental approval.

Cut ahead a few minutes in the film and LuLu runs up to me crying, with blood streaming down her face. She'd gotten a gash above her right eye after accidentally headbutting her friend.

In what I felt was a great Daddy moment, I kept cool and calm, and talked her out of her panic. Alas, it did need stitches. She wanted the whole family along for support, and gathered up not only her own White Bear but YaYa's Brown Bear.



A two bear trip - you know she was upset.



Here are the Facebook updates from that night:

6:32 PM "‎@ St Francis ER w/ the family. LuLu got hurt playing w/ a friend and got a decent slash above her right eye."

6:44 PM "the admission's lady mistakenly gave Lu the ID band of a lovely 92 yr old, and vice versa. The woman tripped on a new couch and cut her mouth. She is a very lively, friendly woman who looks 10 yrs younger."

6:58PM "Some nut is screaming and banging his head on the wall in the ER. Security is responding. Long wait, screaming nuts - it reminds me of riding the bus"

7:07 PM "playing rock/paper/scissors to pass the time"



We also watched Shark Tank and Smiley found a green Power Ranger action figure in the waiting room. He turned it in to the Lost and Found but a nurse sterilized it and gave it to him to pass the time. Score!



(he's not happy that she's hurt; at this point he was over-tired and goofy)



In the end, after all that fuss, I still wasn't 'there' for her when she got the stitches, as I walked her siblings out to stretch their legs right before the doc decided to get it over with. Figures.





Anyhow, the stitches are out, the scar is barely recognizable as one, and all is well. More importantly, a tradition has been continued! (j/k)