Goose Egg and Gash.

I wish you could have seen the way Jaron leapt from the fireplace, zoomed across the living room, and torpedoed into the air head-first toward the couch cushions.
His only miscalculation? How high to jump.
He waaaay overshot his mark, missed the couch entirely, and hit the wall above the couch headlong with the full force of his body behind him.

The resulting lump was incredible. It looked like a volcano science project when the vinegar gets poured in with the baking soda. POW! Instantly huge.
At one point, Chris said, "Man, you got a goose egg the size of a, well, goose egg."

We iced it and the swelling subsided a tad. But if ever, at any point, during the day he over-exerted himself by doing anything other than sitting and watching tv, it would re-swell. We're talking Biblical proportions.

You already must know what keeping a boy like mine still and calm all day long is like...

I felt like a broken record. Every few minutes I reminded him, "Let's try to stay calm, remember?"
While inside, my heart was racing, terrified that his lump would grow beyond epic. It was so, so huge!

Around 6pm, I could no longer scare him into submission (Calmness). He was taunted one too many times by his little sister. She has this way of sashaying past him and acting coy that the boy simply cannot resist.

The race was on... until she got to her bedroom, turned to see him coming, and slammed the door. On his head.

The resulting gash was incredible.
It was so deep it looked more like a dent in a vehicle than in a human head. No blood at first. Just a kind of eerie gray color with a deep groove. Then it all came rushing out. EWWWW!

Luckily, (I guess it was lucky anyway) it was on the side of his head previously unaffected by the goose egg.

I got all frustrated with him and said, "See? When you get all crazy and start acting wild, this is what happens..."
He was still crying from the pain. I was being critical of his impulsiveness.
I was exasperated. I didn't give him the warmth and comfort he needed. He was hurt and already regretted the decision to take his sister's bait.
I immediately wished I could have been a lot more nurturing. A lot more like my Heavenly Father who never kicks me while I'm down.

So I grabbed my very last ice pack and lovingly doctored his new gash.
I kissed him and held him tight, at a loss for words.
It stung my heart. Too often I fail at this monumental task of motherhood, especially with regard to my son.

Later in the car, he said, "I have decided to forgive myself."
I said, "What did you have to forgive yourself for baby?"
He said, "For actin' all wild and getting myself hurt."

I told him I was sorry for snapping at him and asked him to forgive me.

What's a mom to do with a kid like him?
He's priceless and passionate.
Full of energy and life.
Introspective and impulsive.
Brilliant and all-boy.
He makes me smile everyday. The inside kind of smile - where you know you must be doing something right to have such a great kid.
The very next moment, I want to wring his neck!

He's my baby.
But he's also becoming so big, so fast.
A Kindergartener in just a few more days.

I am terribly proud of him.
Even when I am not terribly proud of the way I mother him.