"Almost, but not quite"...

This is what Dr. Nick told us on Wednesday afternoon after he looked at the hole in Benjamin's lower lip and pronounced that he would not need stitches.

We had just gotten home from a morning play date and I was hurrying to get lunch ready as it was a bit past our normal lunchtime. The kids were playing outside on the driveway while I worked in the kitchen. The door was open so I could keep an eye and ear on them. I was talking with Seth on the phone when I heard Benjamin start screaming. Thinking Talia had probably taken something from him I sighed and told Seth I had to go. As I hung up Benj came into the kitchen with his hand over his chin. "Did you hurt yourself, Babe?" I asked, pulling his hand back to reveal blood. This was worse than just a bump, but I figured he had just scraped on our asphalt driveway. I grabbed a napkin and put some pressure on it to help the bleeding. Meanwhile Benj kept crying. After a minute I pulled the napkin away to get a better look and realized that it was much worse than just a scrape. I quickly called Seth back. "I think Benjamin bit all the way through his lip." "I'll be right there," he told me.

I later found out that Benj had been running down our sloped driveway and tripped over something in his path. I asked him if he hit his head and he said, "No, just my lip."

About 40 minutes later Benj and I made it to the pediatrician's office. All the way there he held a wet washcloth over his lip. When I asked to see it he shook his head "no." "Just Dr. Nick," he told me...."Actually...nobody." But when Dr. Nick came in Benj let him look, not even wincing when he pulled it gently out to look at the inside. What a brave little guy!

After a thorough examination of his lip and teeth...nose...ears... Benj was pronounced OK. His lip was punctured all the way through but because it came through under the curve of the lower lip (where the scar won't show) the doctor wanted to leave it alone. Forty minutes later we were on our way back home with orders for lots of popsicles and nothing crunchy to eat for a week.

I think every kid has to learn at some point that he is not immortal. I believe that process for Benj started this week. Although he insists that it doesn't hurt (and amazingly enough the inside of his lip is almost healed only two days later), the bitter disappointment of being denied tortilla chips at Qdoba yesterday is likely to have made an impression.