The Second Day of 2012

The second day of our new year was our last day of winter vacation. We had such a wonderful and relaxing break that I wanted to make our last day count. The bummer was that Matt had to work that day, so it was just going to be me and my Toph.

I planned a full day for us. We were to get his second haircut, go ride the train around Brackenridge Park (a new favorite of m'boy) and go to the zoo. We were also planning to eat at the zoo, something we normally don't do. This was a special day.

We played in our new kitchen for a bit:

Then, we got the new haircut:

and headed to the train station.

Do you see the unadulterated excitement in that kid's eyes? He was so excited to be on his train (my choo choo, he calls it).

After the train, we ate a bite at the overpriced zoo diner.

It was all good because Toph got a super cool tiger sippy cup with a bendy straw.

There are not many pics of us in the zoo because I didn't realize how hard outings like that are without a second parent to point and click. I got one while we were walking:

and a couple in the kids' area:

I swear he's not a blur in real life; I can't seem to get him to be still for pictures.


A new development from this zoo trip: if Toph sees an animal he likes, he reaches his hand out and says, "Pet it!" He wanted to pet the wild African dogs, the okapi, the grizzly bear and the ostrich. In all honestly, he has a better chance of petting the grizzly than the ostrich and that's a fact. I abhor those birds.

We had a blast at the zoo, even though we were sans daddy. Toph was asleep before we were out of the parking lot and stayed asleep an hour after we got home.

I was able to sit on the floor and read magazines, so I was thrilled for the moment of quiet.

Matt came home soon thereafter and I couldn't help but tell him of the fun times we had. We had a lovely family dinner (meatball subs) and soon, it was time for Toph's bathtime. I had just settled in to do some pinning while thinking what a perfect day it had been.

Then, I heard a loud thump. I head Matt say, "Topher!" loudly. I heard my son's shaking wails. I ran to the bathroom and found blood everywhere, pouring copiously from my sons chin and seemingly, from his mouth. I snatched him away from Matt (who was thoroughly freaked out) and ran to sit down with him. I wanted to get a look at what we were dealing with.

I ordered Matt to get a bag of ice while I examined the source of the blood. Toph had slipped in the tub while Matt was reaching to grab his towel to dry him off. His chin slammed against the edge of the tub and had split it wide open. Toph was scared. He was bleeding. Our perfect day seemed very far away.

After a few minutes of bleeding and crying, we were able to get a good look at the wound. It wasn't too deep, but it was wide and we couldn't close it. We could also see the subcutaneous fat below the skin which we knew meant one thing. Stitches.

We went to the emergency room in our community and saw a sign that said "4 hour wait." That would have put us with a doctor at roughly midnight. No thank you. We went to a second ER meant just for children and when we walked through the doors, our hearts sank. The waiting room was stuffed to the gills with sick little babies. We had no choice but to wait.

Wait we did, for three hours. What made up for it were the fabulous nurses who took care of Toph, doctored his wound and numbed it to get it ready for stitches. At around 10:30 we were called back and Toph got four stitches.

He didn't cry, he didn't fuss, he just laid there and let the sweet PA sew him up. He was awesome. He got his first ever popsicle for being so good.

 We arrived home just as the third day of our new year was starting. We were exhausted but thankful. We laid our wounded warrior on his bed and he fell fast asleep. I ran through the day's events through my head and honestly, there is not one thing I would change about it.

What happened that day is the stuff that life is made of. Good and bad. Happy and sad, excitement and worry. In the end, it turned out perfectly. Just the way it was supposed to.