Magic

Being a mother, especially of a little boy, I know that I will have to get used to the fact that Cole is going to get hurt.  But, of course, it’s never easy. We have been lucky so far, with only minor cuts and bruises (except for one lacrosse stick injury last spring that left him with a scar over his eye). So when I got home on Thursday night from work, I wasn’t happy to find my little guy sitting on the kitchen table crying, while his daddy fed him candy to try to make him feel better. They had been at lacrosse practice all night, playing around in the mud with no issues. But when they got home, Cole was walking up the steps and fell as he reached the top, scraping his chin and hurting his thumb.

I hated seeing him so upset and it took a few minutes to calm him down, but it wasn’t anything too major. I was definitely more affected than he was. And when he said to me, “Fall. Steps. Boo boo,” it took everything in me not to cry. But my kid is pretty tough and got over it fast.  

The next night, though, we were out shopping, and I noticed that the fingernail on his injured thumb was barely hanging on and thought that it would probably hurt more if he got it caught on something. So in my infinite wisdom, I decided to get it over with and rip it off. Not such a good idea. It was lower than expected and started bleeding. Now, luckily, I had already let Cole pick out some band-aids. (They had Care Bears and Bratz, so I steered him towards Care Bears.) Now, how to get him to let me put it on. I pushed the cart carrying my crying son into an empty aisle and opened the box. I explained how Mommy had “magic” that was going to make his boo-boo all better. He cried louder and tried to hold his hand away from me, but I finally managed to (sloppily) get the band-aid around his thumb. He cried and yelled more, and I soon found myself walking around the store, carrying my 2 year old as he buried his face into my neck.

For the rest of the night, Cole treated his hand as if it was broken. He refused to use it and held it out, away from his body, as though it was on fire. Kevin tried to get him to pick things up with it, but he wouldn’t do it. He even held his good hand while giving him books and toys to hold with the injured hand, but he acted like he couldn’t hold on to anything. We were actually pretty amused but wondered how long it would last.

By Saturday, things were relatively back to normal with Cole using both hands. I think he is still somewhat fascinated by the band-aid, but in a good way now. His thumb is almost completely healed, but he still came to me this morning and asked for magic. And I happily gave it to him.

Proudly displaying his Care Bears "magic"