Injuries, Owies, Tough Doctor Visits

I've been noticing lately how many near-misses we have nearly every day with the kids. Most of them go unnoticed or are quickly forgotten. Today when Shelly nearly bashed her face into the rocker on the rocking horse. Yesterday when, last week when, and so on. Our most memorable near-miss was Shelly's tumble down the concrete steps while strapped into her carseat. Praise God things went the way they did that night, no injury.
Of course the things that are more easily remembered are the actual injuries. Archer's stitches and staples, Shelly's stitches. And more recently, Archer's toe. He had a problem with his toenail and last week we saw a doctor and did a minor procedure to try to fix things up. It didn't quite work out and today we had to go back for a slightly less-minor procedure.

Sidetrack a moment, to a different story that most parents have experienced. The day of shots we hold our babies in our lap, or hold them on the examining table and restrain them while the nurse stabs a needle into their sensitive skin "for their own good." I don't know about the other moms but I've always felt bad about those days. Like I'm betraying my baby's trust, holding him/her down while someone else hurts them. For their own good. The only positive thing is that the kids were too young to remember what I did to them.

Back to the more recent events... Last week I held Archer in my lap with his arms pinned to his sides while he screamed in my ear and the doctor tried to fix his foot. Today we did it again, but it was worse and Archer fought harder and I felt awful. That kid went to school all day, ran around on the playground at recess and bounced around like a jumping bean in the waiting room at the doctor's office. He had no nap, he had minimal sugar and still somehow he had the energy to fight three adults and the doctor as we tried to do something "for his own good." And now, at six, he's old enough to remember my role in his pain. Maybe someday he'll realize it really was for his own good? Its what I'm hoping, anyway.