T-Bone’s birthday party was Saturday, and we all came prepared to party. We talked Mom and Dad into balloons from the store earlier in the week (Puss and Boots for Riley and Emmett, and Wreck it Ralph for Tessa-though she had no idea what it was), Riley was fresh off an Urgent Care visit and still standing (more on that later), and, once again, the cupcakes were great.
Our party was a small one, just family. We all played with cousin Ellie, Tom and Doris, Grandma Betty, Grandma Cheryl, Pop-pop and Anne, and Aunt Ashley. Tessa received clothes, including a tutu that Emmett loves, and elephant books, which we all love. The cupcakes had jungle animals on them, and we each had two. That’s right. Mom and Dad said it was ok if we each had two cupcakes. That meant no dinner, as we were all full from so much cupcake. I’m sure you’ll agree that there were no anticipated repercussions from that decision. Anyway, a good time was had by all.
Riley regaled everyone, as soon as they walked into the house, with the story of his first (but probably not last) trip to see the doctor. We all have had well-child visits. But none of us has ever been to the doctor for so much as a sniffle. Riley changed all of that when he decided to see how sturdy his dresser was. He, quite literally, lowered his head and rammed the edge of a dresser. Obviously, the dresser, with a little more heft, was the last one standing. But, we guess, it was good that Riley is engaging in the scientific method at such an early age. Hypothesis tested, and hypothesis dismissed.
I think that we have to back up, though, to give you the full story of what happened that afternoon. Tessa has recently graduated from a crib to a toddler bed. She proved that she was old enough to make the switch when she continually bailed over the side of her crib, regardless of the repetitive head trauma. What the toddler bed means, though, is that Tessa and Riley were no longer separated by the bars of the crib during nap and sleep-time. (Which brings us to a relevant question: Does the crib keep Tessa in, or does it keep Riley out?)
You may recall when Emmett and Riley were allowed this access a little over a year ago, when they shared a room, that a Thunderdome-incident occurred and lives were changed forever. Mom and Dad were hoping never to see those events repeated, and they decided to lay down the law right from the get go. Tessa’s new toddler bed is a play tent over a bed, and Riley recently got a new Lightning McQueen race car bed. We were told that if we got out of our beds during nap, everything would be removed from the room, including our new beds. Mom and Dad thought that this would be enough incentive to keep us honest. But, again, Riley had a hypothesis: Mom and Dad won’t follow through with the threat.
This is how that hypothesis was tested: At nap time, we didn’t nap. We jumped on Tessa’s tent and we broke it. We dug into the closet and found some new, unopened wipe containers and we de-stuffed two of them. We tore up a few of our books. It was a bad scene. Consequently, everything was removed from our room except for mattresses and sheets. Hypothesis tested, and hypothesis dismissed. But what Tessa and Riley were left with was nothing but the mattress, some furniture, and their own bodies. What was left to do but play daredevil?
Mom had the monitor and, given the earlier events, she had the volume up loud. When Riley started crying, she looked at the screen and was a bit alarmed to see a dark spot on Riley’s temple. It couldn’t be blood, she thought. Oh, how wrong she was. She kept watching as Riley stopped crying and stood up. But when she saw him reach up, touch the dark spot, and then peer down at his hand in horror, she knew that it was going to be bad.
When she came into the room, there was blood everywhere. Blood covering Riley from head to navel; blood drops all over the mattresses (which had been pushed together so as to create a larger jumping platform); there was even blood on Tessa. After whisking Riley into the shower to clean him up and identify exactly how large the wound was, she took Riley to the Urgent Care. Here’s the thing though. This should have been traumatizing for Riley. Pain, blood, doctor. All theoretically bad and scary. But Riley loved his time alone with Mom. And they even met Dad at the Urgent Care. Riley got a popsicle, and a blue one at that. And, after they glued (yes, glued) his wound back together, he was offered his choice of toys out of a treasure chest-just like Captain Hook’s treasure chest. Apart from the now-forgotten pain, this was a great adventure.
So, where do we go from here? That remains to be seen. We are all hoping for no more hypotheses. Everyone has remained put at bedtime. Interesting side note, Emmett slept through the entire Thunderdome-Urgent Care event. He woke up to Pop-pop (who was watching the non-injured babies) giving him some juice. Would that we could all sleep so soundly.
Larsons Out
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