Dad And The First Boo Boo

There she was, looking up at me with her big brown eyes. She had a confused look on her face, as if asking, why Daddy why? She gazed at the hard cement flooring on our porch in absolute horror. She just wanted to know how this outdoor wonder land which she loves so much had just reached up, tripped her, and drawn the first blood she had ever seen. I had no answer for her, only an outstretched hand of help. I picked up my little girl, dusted her off, and assessed the damage. It is official. She had gotten her first boo boo.

Now, I’m taking about her first actual boo boo that counts. This one drew some blood. Yes it wasn’t really “bleeding” per se, but it was a scrape. It is the first boo boo that signals my little baby girl is not a baby anymore. She is officially transitioning into becoming a toddler. The baby injuries are not a boo boo. Starting around the three month mark bumps and bruises started coming as she learned to move around. Just like any kid learning to crawl and walk, she has gotten plenty of small bumps and bruises. When she started climbing? Forget it! Her shins constantly had little bumps and bruises. But this day, this day was different. This day the cement part of our porch had reached up and tripped my child. In broad day light, the ground struck my little girl and had drawn blood!

I’m still not exactly sure what happened. Much like most 15 month olds, my daughter is still mastering the art of walking and running. She was banging on our fence one moment, trying to entice the neighbor’s dogs to come out, and the next she was on the ground. I think she was practicing her ninja moves, for when she is a superhero. Anyways, I ran over and scooped her up. I saw the damage had been done, and she just looked at me like what happened. She didn’t cry too much, which is surprising, because I would have cried (somewhere my parent’s have a video of a baseball hitting my finger and I fell to the ground crying. I’m coming out with this before they can try to make fun of me with it again. In fact when I recounted my daughter’s first boo boo to them, they immediately brought up the baseball story. They would). Back to the story though. I quickly went inside and along with mommy, we cleaned up the little scrape. I kept telling her it would be ok, and she would get a band-aid. On the band-aid went, and immediately she wanted it off. I told her it would help her in the long run. Something tells me that didn’t click with my daughter because she kept trying to rip it off.

Now the babying started. I went and got her a juice box, which is a special treat for her. She immediately clapped and cheered. We then sat down to watch THE Elmo DVD. If you don’t know what THE Elmo DVD is, read here. I then went into the bedroom and along with Kaylee we explained to mommy that she needed ice cream. Sadly it was getting late at this point, so she had to settle for some goldfish. She quickly figured out that she had all the power now. Daddy wanted to make her feel better, and she knew it. Anytime she wanted something she would point, and then look down at her knee and go “oh”. Once again I had been out done by 1 year old. So for the rest of the night, I got her whatever she wanted.

I know there will be more boo boos along the way, but I hope to avoid them as much as possible. The few moments of real pain I saw in her eyes is something I never want to see. Oh and if you think a man of my age should use another word than boo boo, too bad. That is the correct medical terminology!