invincible isaac

There was a time when I thought we would be having lots of twinjuries in this household, with two very active babies. I pictured them getting the same scratches and bruises at the same time, and I pictured them hurting each other-- you know, twinjuries. But no. It's just him. Always, only, ever Isaac. Bethany has hardly had more than a minor scratch or bruise. I am not sure whether to add this to my Differences Between Boys and Girls list or just chalk it up to my ultra-curious, and not very cautious, child.

Documenting Isaac's injuries here is a bit of a risk. I don't feel like I'm a bad mother, but listing them all out this way really might make me seem like one. (I certainly felt like one, each and every time.) In my defense, I really do keep a close eye on these two, and our homes have always been very well child-proofed and even pretty well Isaac-proofed. They are not the same thing. You'll see...

BROKEN GLASS. We can start with the most recent. One evening about a month ago, as I was getting Bethany changed for bed, I heard a crash that came from the kitchen. Whenever I hear a crash my mind immediately forms a decision tree (see right). It didn't sound like glass, but something in the pit of my stomach told me to run anyway. Sure enough, I found Isaac in front of the open refrigerator, surrounded by shattered glass and water, barefoot, and looking completely shocked. (We like to keep a few of these in the fridge, filled with water. Now we just keep them on a higher shelf.) The pad of his left foot started to bleed, and when I couldn't flick off the tiny speck of glass there, I grabbed some tweezers and pulled out an 8 mm-- that's according to my husband who works in mms all day-- shard of glass that was sticking straight up into Isaac's little foot. After a few minutes of TLC and a band-aid, he was off and running again like it never even happened. (Jared & I then spent the evening and following morning sweeping, mopping and vacuuming over and over. Sheesh.)

PLAYING WITH KNIVES. I was out for much of the day at a baby shower for my good friend from New York, Katie. (Wow, I meant to blog about this way back when it happened in December. It was SO FUN to see her, and see her so beautifully pregnant!) Just as the shower was ending and people were starting to leave, I get that call from the daddy. The one that starts with, Everything's okay, but... And then the detailing of things that are not okay. Jared had been slicing some apples for the kids, left the counter for a minute (geez, that's all it takes!) to help Bethany with something, when Isaac slid a stool over, picked up the knife with his right hand-- blade up-- put it on the apple, used his left hand to push down on the knife, and sliced a couple fingers. The calm of Jared's voice didn't let on to how bad it was. It was deep, but clean enough of a cut to just glue back together. We were worried about scarring but it healed so well and so quickly!

HEAD FIRST FALL. This was a bad one. Do you know what sound it makes when a 20-month-old's little noggin hits a gigantic rock, 3 feet down? Have you ever punched a watermelon? (Me neither, but you can imagine, right?) Isaac had crawled through the beams of our deck and lost his footing. This one made us both cry together.

As always, within minutes he was back to playing. Our friends that were over when it happened came back later that day to install some safety netting around the deck. I still watched him like a hawk and checked on him obsessively while he slept over the next few days.

THE BLACK NAIL. It's awesome when injuries overlap. A few weeks before the head injury, Isaac had smashed his finger in the back door. The nail turned black and eventually fell off. That episode lasted so long it probably overlapped several injuries. Of course both the nail and the head also overlapped our family pictures. We thought about editing them out but decided not to. This is our boy!

MYSTERY BRUISES. And scratches. For instance, where did he get this almost black eye?

ELECTRIC BURN. Has anyone called CPS yet? Oh my... We were at my parents' house last summer, and 17-month-old Isaac was playing with the neighbor's water feature. Little lamps ran right along the stream, which was beautiful in concept but in retrospect was quite horrifying. It was reasonable to assume, in my opinion (and defense), that the lamps were off because it was daytime, and also because they were, well, not shining as on-lamps typically do. What we did not know was that the lamps were in fact on, but the bulbs were out. Worse! Isaac made this discovery when he put his wet hand a bit too close to a lamp. (I was actually reaching for him in a panic when it happened but he was too quick.) Water + on-lamps + out-bulbs. Just don't do it. You could see the three prongs in his little circular burn. Awful. So glad it wasn't worse!

Before any of this there were all the things that earned him this nickname.

Deep breath.

Okay, it's a good thing I can't think of any more! That was meant to be light-hearted but rehashing all of these together was pretty heart-wrenching instead. This is an unusual amount of injuries, right? I only have my daughter to compare to, who is coordinated and cautious. Is it a boys vs. girls thing? Is it just my special, curious child?? I know I'm not the only mom to experience the heartbreak of kid injuries. Tell me what you think!