All Fun and Games

“It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye!” It was the favourite saying of my primary school sports Teacher. Today the full velocity of what he was trying to teach us finally hit me full on. Except in this case it wasn't an eye, it was a tooth. Well half a tooth. Ok so a crescent shape out of the bottom of a tooth. But that tooth is in the middle of the most beautiful smile I've ever seen. It won't ever be the same again.

Today my little boy, his blue bear and I took a trip to the Doctor. I had set up a racing course in the loungeroom. It was an activity that may have come from my recent urge to overcompensate for being a 'single parent- only child' family. I thought more 'male' activities would help Williams development and keep things exciting around our house. William had accidentally rolled off the arm chair he had been sitting on and fell hitting his head on the ground. I was on the phone to my best friend who lives 700kms away. “I gotta go,” I told her as William let out an incredible howl and hung up the phone. I scooped my boy of the ground and held him to my chest in a big mummy bear-hug. “You silly-duffer” I called him. William was a climber. I wasn't worried about him on the chair because he had really good balance and coordination and because he always climbs up on things.

He quickly stopped sobbing and started trying to squirm his way out of my hold. I stepped back a few paces and took in the image of my son to see the total damage. Blood was blotched around his mouth and pooled on his shirt while I had been holding him. Stringy mucous infused blood stretched out to his hands that were already busy playing in the mess.

I started to panic and stopped myself. A mouth injury, I thought. I can do this. I picked up my 16 month old and held him like a newborn. I cracked the ice tray and fed him ice to stop the bleeding and cold water to clear the blood.

“Beep, Beep.” My phone, a text from Bec.
“I hope William is ok,” she wrote. “Talk to you tonight.”
“He's already ok”, I replied. And he was, as far as he was concerned. I didn't want her to worry all day about him.

The bruise was forming on his head and it was confirmed that his tooth was chipped. I held his arms down while William held Bear for support and the doctor examined the extent of the damage. The dry lump come from my stomach got stuck in my throat. It made me feel sick and upset all at once. The adrenalin subsided and the guilt took over. My poor little boy with the cheeky grin just added another stack to his list.