Scratch 'N Dent

L. was wailing this morning and I couldn't figure out why, but now I see that she has a little bruise on the inside of her lip.

One of the hardest adjustments for me as a parent is accepting that I can't keep my kids from injuring themselves. Not only that, but that I sometimes the one who inadvertently causes the injury. I've managed to scratch them with my fingernail more than once as I'm picking them up for something.

The worst, of course, was the time that S. and I were playing ring-around-the-rosie. I'm not big on falling down myself, so I usually hold her arms and lower her gently to the floor for the "fall down." This time I lost my grip on one arm, and wound up supporting her with the other. She started to cry and didn't stop. As it turned out I'd given her something called a "nursemaid's elbow," which a doctor can make disappear fast. I'm pretty careful not to lift her by one arm these days.

But often in the bath I find that they have acquired some new bruise or dent that I didn't see happen. My sister, a pediatrician, reassures me about this. She says it is the "one goose egg a day" age. And I guess it is a sign that I have active children.