Pages

Monday, March 9, 2009

The Scariest Sight I've Ever Seen

Yesterday I witnessed an image that will not soon be erased from my memory.

I was home alone with my 15-month old son. My wife was performing at church and would not be home for another couple hours. I fed my son his lunch and put him down for his nap. It was exactly noon.

Here's where things got ugly. I, in my very ambitious go get 'em parenting style, was hoping to begin to break my son of his pacifier addiction this weekend, so I put him to bed without it. Naturally he threw quite the fit, but I told myself, "Self, let him fuss for 10 minutes. If he's still fussing, go in his room, remind him it's nap time, give him a kiss and leave him be."

12:03 p.m. - I began to make myself a man-sized lunch. Fried pork chops and oven-baked fries. Yum.

12:06 p.m. - My son was still fussy, rather vigorously, but nothing out of the norm.

12:10 p.m. - I went to check on my son who was still crying, but not as loudly. I opened his door to find him covered in blood. His entire face smeared with blood. Blood on his hands, arms, pants, sheets, blanket, crib. Blood everywhere. It was the scariest sight I'd ever seen.

12:10 and 3 seconds p.m. - I snatch him up and whisked him off to the bathroom, apologizing profusely for letting him cry all that entire time. "I'm sorry buddy. I didn't know you were hurt. Oh, I'm sorry. How long have you been bleeding? Come here. Daddy's got you. I'm sorry."

12:10 and 42 seconds p.m. - I grab a wash cloth and immediately begin cleaning him up and searching for the source of the bleeding. My first guess was a bloody nose, but that wasn't it. He had blood in his mouth. Did he knock a tooth loose somehow? No.

12:12 p.m. - Finally I discover the source of the bleeding. He'd split that thin, little piece of skin that attaches your upper lip to your gums.

My guess is he was throwing a fit in his crib and banged his mouth on the rail. The bleeding had slowed, but didn't stop. So I decided to have the pros take a look. I took him to the nearest immediate care center.

The doctor there was very reassuring. By the time she saw him the bleeding had completely stopped. She told me several times I did the right thing, which was all I needed to hear.

No need for stitches, it will heal on its own.

Mommy arrived home shortly after us at which point we found a pacifier and put our son to bed with a heaping helping of hugs and kisses.

We can wait until another day to break the pacifier habit, whadda say?

Monday, March 2, 2009

Somedays It's Hard to Be a Fan

When your team does something like this:

Cutler thinks he is still on trading block

and this

Marshall arrested for disorderly conduct

As you probably know I'm a die hard Broncos fan. Loved 'em since my youth. Will love them 'til I die. But this has been an unusual off season. So far the head coach of 14 years (who also won two Super Bowls) was fired and a new coach (with no head coaching experience) was hired. Two pairs of the GM trio were fired and the new GM and head coach are shopping the franchise, pro bowl quarterback. So now he's upset and hurt and not interested in talking to the team brass. To add insult to injury our young, pro bowl wide receiver has been arrested again which will probably result in a lengthy suspension (my guess is 8 games).

It's times like this that it's hard to be a fan. I'll support my team through thick and thin, but if they loose their talented young QB, the leader of the team, because a new head coach and GM screwed up than what am I cheering for? A mascot? A city?

It's times like this you realize you're cheering for the players and the coaches. I'll pull for whatever team Mike Shannahan goes to next year and if Cutler leaves I'll pull for his team too, but I'd much rather they just stay put. The new young coach will grow on me and he was rather quickly as of late, but these lastest shenanigans are two big steps back.

-----

Someone Famous Once Said...


"If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated,
let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does
in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right."

-- Bill Cosby