Sputnik Crash

We had our first unexpected stitches yesterday.

Sputnik was running through the house (see why we don't allow that?) and crashed into a small shelving unit that was on it's way from one location to another. Somehow he managed to make a 1/2" cut straight into the side of his ear, so that the edge of his ear was gaping open about 1/2". Not the kind of thing a mom can apply pressure to or bandage *shut* easily.

So off to Urgent Care he went, with Daddy.

He was very brave. After some initial wailing and tears, he recovered and was in quite good spirits. Before he left he said very thoughtfully to me, "When I get back I think I'll rest my ear ... playing the wii."

He was brave and in good spirits for the doctor, too, and it all went very well. It looks like he ended up with 4 stitches. He gets them out on his birthday.

When asked what he liked best about the trip, he said sitting in the waiting room (almost two hours?!) because he playing with Dad's iPod touch.

To keep the ear safe overnight that first night, they put a pad over the stitches, then another pad over that, then a giant pile of gauze, then wrapped the gauze strips around and around and around and around. It looked much more traumatic than the original injury.

He looks kinda down in that picture, but he wasn't. He was very pleased with his giant head wrap. He was just very busy watching a video and playing with a bionicle. He proclaimed his ear "feeling much betterer."

Here he is this morning, all unwrapped, and still very pleased with the whole event. He got a new stormtrooper out of the ordeal.

Perhaps he's plotting future injuries in order to get more toys. He's already asked for extra wii and "marshmallow" time to compensate him. I think ... I hope ... he's figuring out that his pampering part of the ordeal is also over.

He's a little video of the grand ear unveiling, if you've got the bandwidth to play with it. It's 676K. Because what's a trip to urgent care without a stop action video to commemorate it?

The Unwrapping of Sputnik's Ear