March 16, 2009

If laughter is the best medicine, then who's the idiot who claims he 'died laughing'?

Today's regularly scheduled post is briefly interrupted by our Inaugural Trip to the ER..........

I have always said that Anjali would be the one to send us to ER - she is our daredevil, our climber, whereas Arun is our little Apprentice Granny.

So. This morning, I packed our lunches for our planned trip to the zoo, got the kids dressed, then headed upstairs to take a shower. After the shower, I was getting dressed when I heard Arun begin to cry. I went downstairs to investigate and found Arun clutching his hand with a fair amount of blood all over the place. Apparently, Anjali cut his hand with a pair of scissors, although admittedly, the details are, shall we say, a bit sketchy. While I mentally rehearsed the speech for my inevitable Mother of the Year award (I rock, y'all), I attempted to clean the wound and figure out the extent of injury. Arun was having none of it.

I took a long, long swig of the Better Safe Than Sorry Koolaid, packed up the kids and headed to the hospital. Two hours later, with Arun's thumb safely ensconced in a fancy BandAid and our bank account $100 lighter, we were on our way out. Yes, it was a complete and utter waste of time and money. I have never been more grateful.

I did Tweet a bit about the ordeal. You may ask, "Why?" and I would respond, "Why not?" Out of two hours, we saw the doctor, nurses, staff, etc. for a grand total of 20 minutes, which meant we had 100 minutes left to our own devices. The kids were beyond excited to be seeing doctors! and the hospital! and chairs with wheels! and the castle! in the waiting area and Spongebob! on the television. Conversely, I was bored to tears. It did not help that after about 10 minutes into the whole thing I realized that Arun was fine, just fine, but it seems once you get on the ER Rollercoaster, there ain't no getting off the thing until the carnie with the questionable background check and mullet lets you off.




Regularly Scheduled Post, Painstakingly Typed Sunday Evening

Just a reminder - I am trying to reply to comments more often via email. I can only do this if I have an email address. I know, Gmail is sort of a bitch in that way.

This past weekend, I invited my grandma, her siblings and their children with their children over for a lunch (again, people - if you are not making Average Jane's Baked Ziti with Roasted Vegetables for your next family gathering, you have no one but yourself to blame for not clicking that damned link already. The dish was such a success I had to print copies of the recipe that day so folks could head out the door with it because they did not trust me to email it later.)

So, a good time was had by all. As the children ran amuck, the adults sat and reminisced. My cousin M brought his new baby girl (his 3rd child) and several times, folks tried to get me to hold the baby. You know, since X and I only have TWO children, it is our job to provide the next baby for everyone to pass around. I had to admit, though - I am not comfortable with other people's children. Period*. Even family members. In my defense, as I explained that I really prefer children from the age of 6 months to 6 years and thereafter, I am at a complete loss, my cousin M nodded his own head vigorously because he understood. And natch, I do not believe he ever held my children when they were little rubberneckers.

Anyway, it was a great time - I definitely intend to host more of these little shindigs. I loved being able to open my home to so many of my relatives at once. It was a small gathering and there were still easily over 20 of us. We rarely all get together at once these days - because of the sheer number of us (50+), it is difficult to squeeze us all into one location. It appears my house is large enough to accommodate all of us and I am more than happy to do so.

*One exception: Chocolate Covered Susan's son. I LOVE HIM. I want to steal him - he is blonde, blue-eyed and would complement my children's coloring PERFECTLY.

10 comments:

Jess said...

Thats one awesome recipe. I will be making that one asap.

Chocolate Covered Susan said...

Little B loves you and your children, too! Being the second child and slightly less smothered by me, I'm sure he appreciates and looks forward to all of your snuggles. I hope Arun's hand is feeling better tonight - he's got to have it ready for candy-grabbing at the parade tomorrow!!

Monkey McWearingChaps said...

I am sort of fascinated by babies and do not mind interacting with children of any age...from a comfortable distance.

However, unless I know and like the parents or there's some sort of emergency that requires me to grab a hold of them, I do not like holding other people's babies. And the younger the child, the less I like it. For any number of reasons-including a) they seem breakable, like floppy sea cucumbers but more fragile b) they tend to spit and gargle vomit and other bodily fluids randomly c) I think sometimes some parents can be very sensitive and I don't want to accidentally hold THEIR children.

All that said, I'm sure I'd love my own kids like a lionness but I'm not a big baby person. I think I more or less take after my mother in that way.

Me: Was I cute when I was young?

My Mother: When you were asleep and quiet.

Me: Hmmm.

My Mother: I loved you from the moment I felt you move inside of me, but you got more interesting after time went on. More annoying, but definitely very interesting.

Me: Thanks, Mummy.

My Mother: Babies are useless. One day you'll see.

So, you know, one ogress breeds another ;-).

Anjali said...

So glad he's not hurt seriously! We had a recent scissors accident here, too!

Anonymous said...

Heh. I love the little, random ones. They're like kittens only without the sharp, pointy teeth and claws.

They're still nice when they get older, but honestly? That's when I really only like mine and a few special other ones. ;-D

Anonymous said...

I was at a baby shower recently and my mom was following Caleb around. I was conversing with a fellow hostess when my sister shouts SCISSORS! Caleb had a very sharp pair in his hands and was happily cutting the air. Sister grabbed the scissors, crisis averted but I swear half of the room looked around at me like I was the worst mother ever!

Anonymous said...

Our last ER visit was a mere $75 but 3 hours in length. And the only reason we got out after 3 hours was that I pretended I was going into labor (Julia was born 2 days later). You've never seen ER doctors hustle, though, when faced with the possibility of imminent birth.

FFF said...

Glad the special bandaid helped :). Also to your title--have never understood "he who laughs last, laughs best." Have always thought they just didn't get the joke?

MLE said...

Mostly I just like holding the babies of people I know. This is rare, because I don't know many people with babies that I see on any sort of regular basis. I got to hold Leah and Simon's baby a whole bunch last weekend, which was awesome, but I feel a strong connection to him because I'm close to his parents. I wouldn't feel nearly as excited about holding a cousin's baby or something.

I might make Jane's baked ziti sometime, subbing zucchini for the eggplant because I'm allergic.

Also, I'm glad Arun is OK!

Anonymous said...

I can't comment after Monkey...there is nothing left...