In what shall hereafter be called The Great Hula Hooping Incident

Stitches, originally uploaded by JenSig.

So yesterday Edie became the first of my children to require a trip to after-hours urgent care and get STITCHES.

She was hula-hooping her way down a neighbor's driveway, and managed to slip and whack her chin on the driveway, resulting in my friend rushing her home to my house across the street, where I was at first unable to tell whether stitches were needed because there was so much blood it was hard to see MUCH.

She was pretty freaked out, I have to say — she is a girl who will get herself completely worked up over the idea of a shot, so of course that was her first question — well, after first asking me in a panic (when I had said we'd need to go to the doctor), "Am I going to DIE?" — and while I had a good feeling that she WOULD need a shot to numb the area, I of course didn't tell her that.

WHen we got to urgent care they were, blessedly, empty, so we were ushered right into a room and got immediate service. Edie was shivering, and when I asked her if she was cold she said no, she was just SO SCARED, Mommy! When she realized that they were, in fact, going to give her a shot — in her BOO BOO, no less! — she was pretty unconsolable, which was heartbreaking for me.

Finally, Terry said, "Edie... if you can be really brave and hold still for the doctor, then maybe we can stop at WalMart afterwards to pick out a new Zhu Zhu Pet." Her eyes lit up immediately, and I could see the wheels in her head turning.

Suddenly she turned slightly coy and said, "Could I get a SET?" Way to try and work that situation, little girl!

And I have to say, she was VERY brave, even when the nurse gripped the top of her head to keep her from turning her head and the doctor began injecting that needle full of lydocaine RIGHT INTO THE GAPING WOUND IN HER CHIN and she was crying and whimpering and screeching all at the same time — suddenly she must have numbed up, because she became very still and said quietly, "Hey! It doesn't hurt anymore!"

And that little 5-year-old girl laid as still as the grave while that very kind man put three stitches into her pretty little chin. Didn't fuss, didn't try to turn her head, didn't talk. I was SO proud of her for being so brave.

So, yes, she did get a trip to WalMart afterwards, for a new RockStar Zhu Zhu, named Roxie, a black and white little cutie with a shock of hot pink hair on the top of her head. .

But no... she did NOT get a set, as she'd hoped for. :-)