Road Rash

Last week, Vera fell on the sidewalk as she walked from school to daycare in the afternoon.  I got a call from the daycare stating that she hit the sidewalk face-first.  Her gloves saved her hands, but her glasses took the brunt of the fall.  The teacher at daycare ended the voicemail saying, "Just giving you a heads up, you might want to call the eye doctor."  I didn't get too concerned until Adam sent me a text and said that Vera was a wreck.  (He happened to pick her up that day.)  He sent me a picture of her glasses and said there's no way they can be salvaged.  Large, deep scratches on both lenses.  Frames were also scratched and finished scraped off.  :(

We started asking Vera some questions later.  Wasn't icy.  Didn't run in to anyone.  No one ran in to her.  Didn't fall off the sidewalk.  She just fell.  We're fairly certain that she simply wasn't paying attention and fell.  Her nose and forehead were very sore with road rash.  It was really heartbreaking to see her so beat up.  Throughout the evening, I caught her hiding saying that she had to keep her face hidden.  She cried big tears as I tucked her in to bed that night.  In between sobs, she said she didn't want to go to school because everyone will laugh at her face.  I assured her that people will not laugh and they will be happy she's ok.  Honestly, Adam and I were thankful she didn't get hurt worse.  She could've lost teeth, broke her nose, had a concussion...  But it was so hard for us to see her so shameful and worried.  She was terrified that we'd be mad about her broken glasses.  Bless her heart!

We salvaged an old pair of glasses and made an appointment for the eye doctor.  In the meantime, her face started to heal well.  We ordered some new glasses and moved on.

Until yesterday.  I picked her up after school to immediately see a bandage on her nose and more road rash on her forehead.  It happened again.  She fell.  No ice.  No pushing or shoving.  Just fell.  Face first.  This time it happened in the morning on the way to school.  She told me she had a bigger band-aid on earlier and it looked like a duck bill.  lol  Can you imagine this!?  Her back-up glasses had bent nose pieces and a few scratches on the lens, but not nearly as bad as the first time.  Again, she was terribly embarrassed and so apologetic.  I assured her that I wasn't mad, but I just hate to see her face get hurt all the time.  She was almost healed up.

We had to keep it covered for a while.  It was seeping and bleeding a little.

Later that night, after her shower, I was cleaning the wound and helping her get dressed.  She started crying big tears again.  She looked at me and said she was so sorry.  Shamefully, she asked if I ever fell and hurt my face when I was a little girl.  I assured her I did, and it sure did tug at my heart!

Adam and I are trying to be encouraging and reassuring. This is one of those (many!) hard times as a parent.  We just want to keep her in a bubble where it's safe, but we know we have to let her go.  I'll admit that I cried a few tears to myself, just because I feel so bad for her.  I know what it's like to be the clumsy one with embarrassing injuries.    It's just so hard to see your child struggle, and not be able to do anything!