If you think of a two and a half year old boy, you probably picture scuffed knees, scrapped up elbows, and the occasional goose egged forehead. This is definitely the case for all of my friend's boys that fall in this age group. Not so for my boy. Christian has had very few spills, and those that he has had have been minor. That is all changing now, as he is getting strong enough to be more independent, and is starting to embrace his innate boy-ness. A few nights ago, Christian fell out of a kid's chair while at a friend's house. He went face first into the tile, and got a small bump, which became an even smaller bruise. Not a big deal, except that it was his first. Tonight he stepped it up. He drew blood.
Christian was standing in front of one of our friends during Tessie's birthday party. He was doing great, enjoying playing with all the kids, and showing off his new strength. He was more-or-less balancing on his own, using the grown up legs on either side of him for support. All of a sudden he went forward, right into the tray of a booster chair. I was sitting next to him and knew this was gonna be rough. My friend immediately pulled him back upright and I took him in my arms for a hug. I suddenly thought I should check for blood, something I have never thought of before in Christian's case. I leaned him away from me, and to justify all his screaming, blood was trickling out of his mouth.
He stopped crying almost right away, something that impressed me immensely, and he smiled when I offered him a frozen chunk of mango to suck on. Within a matter of moments, despite the blood on my shirt, there was no sign of the incident. But I knew that a significant moment had just passed. Christian splinting his lip on that tray marked the start of a whole new world of rough and tumble adventures. Boys get dirty, boys play hard, and boys get hurt. It is absolutely beautiful that Christian is on his way to being just one of the boys.
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