Ouchies

Last weekend’s festivities were well-covered in this space: Saturday and Sunday. Amidst all the fun, though, were some typical kid injuries. Lest you think life is all fun and games for the Huang kids, here’s an account of some of last weekend’s ouchies:

Saturday morning – On our way into the playground at Franklin Square, I want the kids to learn that it’s important to close the gate behind you, since there might be some wandering toddlers who would otherwise escape the safe confines if their parents aren’t watching carefully enough. Fair enough. But Jada holds one latch and Aaron drops the other latch down on it, resulting in Jada howling in pain. As I wonder what’s going on, she shows me that her finger is pinched in between two metal objects. As calmly as I can, I lift the latch, and extricate her finger, which is none the worse for the wear, although I’m sure quite pained.

Saturday morning – Not twenty minutes later, Aaron and Jada are swinging higher and higher on the swings. Aaron decides he wants to get down, so I slow his swing down and let him off. But then he walks right in front of Jada’s arc, and within milliseconds, in comes Jada feet first. She absolutely crushes Aaron; linebackers would be proud of the hit. Aaron crumples to the ground, howling, more from the shock than the pain. I dust him off and within seconds, he’s fine.

Sunday afternoon – We’re walking home with our friends from the local swim club. All the kids have this habit of darting behind a bush and then, as we adults approach, jumping out to scare us. One of our kids’ friends leaps from a staircase to add to the effect, and completely blasts Jada in the process, knocking her over, giving her a little bump on her cheek, two scraped knees, and a banged-up hand. Howling ensues. Band-Aids will have to be applied when we get home, but this too shall pass.

Minor ouchies, as you can see. If it’s part of the fun weekends our kids are having this summer, we’ll take them.