Bruised Noggin

Our darling Dylan had an accident in early May that scared Evan and me into being much more vigilant in our observance of our little boy's activities. See, he's the only boy we have, and we are used to Amelia who is not even remotely a dare devil and sometimes even exceedingly cautious, to the point of being a complete "scared-y-cat". Dylan seems to be the antithesis of this quality when it comes to exiting trampolines.

We were visiting my parents on a Sunday evening. The grandchildren were jumping on the trampoline outside with a few adults, including me, chatting and casually observing their activities. Evan was inside with the remaining adults. The neighbor's dog started barking on the other side of the fence and the jumping children all decided that they wanted to see the dog. So, one by one they started climbing off the trampoline with a little assistance. The second to youngest, Jared (the elephant from an earlier post), got off with my help and then needed help seeing over the fence. Dylan had been on the other side of the safety-netted trampoline and while I turned to help Jared, dashed like lightning across the trampoline and right off the side onto the concrete court below.

It was horrifying to watch and be so helpless for those few critical seconds. The spot of impact on his forehead proceeded to swell and turned into a golf ball-sized goose egg. Dylan cried and cried, but eventually settled down. Miraculously, he didn't have a concussion or a fracture. He looked pretty beaten up for a few weeks, which yielded countless sympathetic looks from family, friends and even strangers.

Now, the only evidence of his accident is a residual little knot and slightly darker spot that the doctor says will eventually clear up. While that little forehead has perpetual bruises and scrapes, many moms of boys smiled at his terribly bruised noggin and said, with great empathy, that Dylan's double black eyes were most likely the first of many.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.