B and K

I don't think that I have talked about "B" and "K" yet. B is my nephew. He is my sister's 4 year-old son. "K" is our 7 year-old goddaughter. She is my mother's brother's step-grandaughter. Her grandmother has custody of her, and she spends most of her time at my grandparents' house. Confusing, I know. But everything works out. She is very happy. And she loves us very much, and we love her.

The wife is in a stretch of several days off, and she thought it would be a good idea to see if B and K wanted to come stay with us for a few days. They love playing together, and we thought they would have a great time if they came home with us. We went to Bowling Green on Saturday morning and brought them here Sunday afternoon.

K has been to our apartment before. But it was B's first visit. So the newness of our apartment to him was apparent, and he had to explore every inch of it. The wife and I are on a Star Wars kick, after seeing the new movie. I don't remember any of the old movies, so we're going to eventually watch them all. B loves Star Wars too, and he wanted to watch A New Hope, the very first episode that came out in 1977. So on Sunday night, we watched most of this movie. I say most, because the movie was interrupted by a lengthy visit to the emergency room.

B and K were playing and being really good. They were playing some sort of monster game. They were in the kitchen looking for monsters. The countertop on our kitchen cabinets extends out to make a snackbar. They were standing right beside the snackbar, and B had his back to it. He said in his most excited voice "Come on K! Let's go!" As he turned around, he smacked head first into the snack bar. He was just tall enough for it to hit him right across the bridge of his nose. A huge goose egg knot swelled up on his forehead, and he had a big cut across his nose. His nose swelled up too, and we thought it might be broken.

The wife scooped him up, grabbed an ice pack and put on his forehead. I put on the first pair of shoes I could find (which happened to be my Jesus sandals. I still had my socks on too, so I made the fashion blunder of wearing socks and sandals. But I didn't care. Must take kid to hospital!) and we took off to the ER of Clark Memorial Hospital. B was screaming from the moment he fell to the floor. "I want my mommy! I want my mommy!" over and over. But Mommy, my sister, was two hours away.

We got him checked in and back to a bed. Everything seemed to be ok, except for the uncertainty of the broken nose. He calmed down after 15 minutes or so. He was laughing and talking with K, and feeling much better. After 30 minutes, we were finally able to take him back for x-rays. He freaked out, once again. He started screaming for Mommy again, and he added, "I don't wanna get a shot! I don't wanna get a shot!" I tried to tell him that he wouldn't get a shot, but he must not have believed me. He turned 4 last week, and had to go to the doctor to get new shots. So the shots were still fresh on his mind. Poor guy!

The wife went into the x-ray room with him, but came right back out a few seconds later. She couldn't stay with him, because she is pregnant. So I had to stand by him and try to calm him down. Easier said than done. The big hard white table was scaring him to death. I think after 15 or 20 minutes, they were finally able to take all of the x-rays.

So back out to his bed in the ER, we went (oooh, a Yoda line). We sat and waited and waited and waited some more. I pondered the idea of taking off my white socks and stuffing them into my pockets, but I didn't. In the meantime, a boy was assigned to the bed next to B's. His parents were with him. He was walking quite funny as he walked over to his bed. They had just been fishing, and his mother was casting the bait out into the water. As she casted, the hook went back and dug into an area just below his right knee in his calf. It was disgusting. We had a nice conversation with the parents, exchanging stories of how our two boys were injured. The doctor came and gave the boy a numbing shot, and extracted the hook. He said that they remove over a hundred fish-hooks every summer! That's over one per day. Sheesh!

Shortly after the boy's fish-hook had been removed, B's doctor finally came back to us. His x-ray showed that his nose had not been broken. The nurse gave him some apple juice, and at nearly midnight, we were finally able to go back home. Both kids fell asleep in the car in the 10 minute ride back home, and they both slept until 11 the next morning.

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Day two with B and K was almost as exciting as day one, but in a different sort of way. We took them to the Louisville Zoo. Bryson proclaimed that he "did not like aminals" and that he would not be having any fun while at the zoo. After lots of walking, and seeing the snakes, lions, tigers, elephants, etc. he finally said "I love aminals! Thanks for bringing me Uncle Jason!"

It was fun, and I'm glad that we were able to spend some time with them. I was about ready to rip my hair out yesterday when we took them back home, however. It was Pete and Repeat the whole time they were here. Everything K did, B had to do. Everything she said, he said. They behaved for the most part, but it eventually began to get on my nerves. I wonder if the wife and I were getting a glimpse into the future.