Remember what mama said?

Well, apparently not.

I don't know how many times a day I tell Hot Rod to tie his shoes. I have tried cajoling, teasing, joking, bribing, yelling ... you name it, I've tried it. All to no avail. This child will not tie his shoes.

*sigh*

Maybe this'll learn 'im.


While working this morning, the phone rings and the caller ID shows the school's number.

Oh no, I said outloud.

I wasn't terribly shocked to get a call from the school nurse. My boys get severe growing pains and Hot Rod's legs have been bothering him enough to want to go see the nurse. So, I thought it can't hurt for her to check and make sure it doesn't look/sound like something more serious. So, I answer the phone and she tells me his legs are fine.

But ...

Uh-oh, I said, that doesn't sound good.

Hot Rod's here with me now. We had a little spill on on the playground. I got the bleeding to stop.

*thinking to myself, oh shit*

But, I think he may need stitches.

Ok, do I take him to the ER or to the pediatrician?

ER most likely, but you know, you might want to call the doctor and see if he can do it in his office.

Ok, I'm on my way.

Hang up phone and Army of Dad (who took off work today to get an MRI for a hand injury he suffered about three weeks ago, that is a whole OTHER story) looks at me like "WTF? Spill the beans woman!" SO I relay what she said as I'm calling the pediatrician to see if I can bring him there and avoid waiting in an ER all day. They say to come NOW.

So, I leave AoD and Stinkerbelle at the house, go retrieve Hot Rod, think better of doing it by myself and call AoD to be ready and go with us. We load up the family and head to the doctor.

As we're driving over, we're quizzing the kid about what he was doing to fall and not get his hands out in front of him to break the fall. Just running and fell, he tells us.

We check in at the doctor's office and head to the "well room" when AoD looks at me and says knowingly "I wonder how he fell?" as he gestures at not one, but two, completely untied sneakers.

The staff fit us in pretty quickly and the doctor sees him.

Typical pavement abrasion, he says. Little skids of skin ripped off in a line. The one cut is pretty deep, but if the doc stitches it, the scar will be even more pronounced. So, he tells us to use soap and water, keep it clean and bandaged and we're ok. He may have some skin divits from the scars that will make shaving a bitch when he gets older, though. Yippee.

So, $25 later and a GIANT peace of mind, and we're on our way for the day's events as planned with an extra kid in tow. Teacher said don't worry about bringing him back to school. Now, he is playing video games after getting pizza for lunch and ice cream for dessert.

So, are you going to work on keeping your shoes tied better now?
*in that exasperated 'you're interrupting my video game' voice - yeah sure*
Why am I not convinced?