It Started with a Phone Call

This afternoon when the phone rang I was tempted to let it go to my voicemail, on the last ring I changed my mind. 

"Hello?"

"Hi.  This is Susan from the elementary school, is this Ethan's mom?" asked the woman on the other end.

"Yes..." I answered slowly, a call from the school during the middle of the day is never a good thing.

"Ummm. Ethan is going to need you to bring him a whole new set of clothes, he bonked his lip and he's got blood all over these ones."

"Blood?  Is he okay?"

"Well, he's calmed down now but you might want to just come and judge for yourself."

I had a feeling that I wasn't getting the whole story.

I pulled up to the school a few minutes later and ran to the front door, that's when I realized that in my rush I had forgotten the change of clothes.  Well, I'm not going home now, I thought as I pushed through the double doors.

I hurried into the front office and scanned the blue chairs for my son, they were all empty so I turned my attention to the woman behind the desk. "Is Ethan here?"  My face must have been a reflection of the anxiety I was feeling.  As she quickly stood up and escorted me to a small room she spoke to me in a soothing voice saying meaningless phrases like, "We're not completely sure what happened.  He won't really say much."  Honestly, I was barely listening to what she was saying, I just wanted to see my son.  Ethan wears his emotions on his sleeve, seeing his face would answer all of the questions jangling in my head; How badly is he hurt?  Is he scared?  Is he upset?  Does he need to come home? 

She opened the door and there he was holding a bloody paper towel to his mouth.  The front of his blue sweatshirt was a dark inky color that doesn't have a name.  He looked up at my face and that's when I melted.  He was trying so hard to be brave but his little chin quivered and his eyes brimmed with tears.  I sat next to my little boy and held him close.  I didn't notice his blood dripping onto my pants, "It's okay," I said over and over while he cried.

After a minute I tried to figure out where the blood was coming from.  First, I looked at his lips,  Hadn't somebody said his lip was bleeding?  There were no cuts on his lips.  Nothing on his nose either.  While I looked him over I asked him what had happened.  With a mouth that barely opened he mumbled, "Well... I don't remember...ummm... actually I ran into to someone."  His answer was less than satisfactory, I could see he wasn't ready to talk about it.  But when he spoke I got a better idea of where he was bleeding; inside his mouth.  I had him open up and saw that the gums above his front teeth were the source of all the bleeding and his teeth were both pushed further back into his mouth than their natural position.  Oh, boy.  I need to call the dentist. 

I signed the bright pink paper to get him out of school for the rest of the day. 

As soon as I got into the car I picked up my cell phone and dialed the dentist's office.  When they answered I explained the situation as well as I could (despite my asking again Ethan still wasn't saying much about what happened).  The friendly receptionist asked how quickly I could be to their office.

After a quick stop off at our house to change Ethan into some clean clothes, we were on our way to the dentist's.  When we got there Dr. DeHart saw Ethan right away.  He was kind and reassuring, just what Ethan needed.  When the dentist asked him what had happened, Ethan didn't say a word.  Dr. D didn't press the issue but looked at me with a raised eyebrow, I could only shrug my shoulders.  As it turns out Ethan's 4 front teeth (all of them permanent) are loose and were moved back by the "bonk" he received.  The good news?  None of his teeth were chipped or cracked.

The next week or so will be full of soft foods, ice cream (all he wants the dentist reassured) and lots of very mellow activities (wrestling was expressly forbidden).  Other than that, there's really nothing to be done but wait and watch.  Hopefully his teeth will heal nicely and move themselves back to where they should be.

So, what happened?  On the way home from the dentist's office Ethan was finally ready to talk about it.  At recess Ethan was playing freeze-tag with a group of kids.  He was being chased by the person who was "it."  While he ran at full speed he looked over his shoulder and hit mouth to head with a girl who was running toward him at her top speed.  When I asked how the little girl was Ethan replied.  "She cried for awhile but I think she's okay.  But mom, just so you know, I was running faster than her."  Several times during the ride home he reiterated, "Mom, I was running just a bit faster than her," or,"She was running pretty fast, mom, but not as fast as me."

It's important, in situations like this, that you know the most critical facts like who the faster runner is.