Rhiannon had another spill this morning. She had gotten into the tub, and then was trying to get out again. I looked over as she hit the floor, on her back, cracking her head against the side of the tub and the floor. I kept checking her mouth (because the last few times I've thought she wasn't hurt, and then blood comes pouring out of her mouth a little later), and sure enough, it was bleeding. I didn't know what she had cut in there, but then she opened it enough for me to see her tongue, and she had bitten right into it. I get the willies every time I think of it. I'm not good with blood in general, let alone coming from my wee one, and a nasty looking injury. Later I saw that she had bit into the other side as well!! Poor thing. I gave her some homeopathic medicine that's supposed to help with healing, and she's been munching on popsicles (home-made, with apple juice). She's also been crabby, so I know it's bothering her. I've been giving her Tylenol too, to help with the pain.

In MN, she fell down the stairs at my in-laws, hit her forehead on the sharp edge of the wood floor trim, and ended up with four stitches in her head! This was right before she was supposed to be in my sil's wedding. At least Rhia has thick bangs, because you couldn't really see the band-aid.

Our little bruiser

Then she scraped up her thigh on some bricks at my aunt's house, scraped up her other leg on the cement step at the il's, and cut a huge gash in her lip at a playground! The playground story is funny, too. This older girl (4 or 5 years old) was at the playground with her mom while we were there. She got on the sand digger thing, where you use the controls to maneuver the scoop, and she pinched her finger. This was such a big deal that she was whisked off to the car to take care of her wound. While she was getting bandaged up, Rhiannon slipped climbing up the steps on the equipment, bashed her face on the rail, and split her lip wide open. Seriously, she nearly bit a piece off! Blood everywhere - her hands, face, hair, down my shirt, my hands... you get the picture. I mop her up with some napkins and the ice from my soda, and suggest that we head home. Rhiannon snaps her head up, "No! Slide!", and climbs off my lap to go right back to those steps and keep playing. The (s)mother part of me wanted to snatch her up and take her home for some R&R, but I was also incredibly proud of her. I love that strength in her - I would never want to undermine that. She'd already gone down the slide a couple times before the other girl got back from her doctoring session. The other mom probably thought I was some sort of misfit for letting her keep playing, but that's the great thing about parenting - you raise your kid the way you want, and I'll raise mine the way I want, and we can both know we're right.