"Mommy! I Hurt Myself!"

So there I was in the kitchen making dinner. Emily and I were just finishing up a round of "Go Fish". She was sitting on one of two bar stools celebrating her victory. I turned my back on her to put some pasta in boiling water, then all of a sudden...BOOM, CRASH, THUD. Soon my victorious little girl was on the floor in tears. To be honest my first reaction was to say, "How in the world...?" Don't worry. After that I did pick her up off the floor and comforted her.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't like it when my children get hurt and I comfort them when they are, but they seem to injure themselves all the time and at the wierdest times. For example, Josh had just finished brushing his teeth and happily ran down the hall. By the time I got the light off and came through the door, he was on the floor holding his foot. I don't know what he did. Emily is always hitting a shoulder, a hand, a toe on something, or steps on a toy that hasn't been picked up. She has so many bruises on her shins that I wonder what she's been doing. (She doesn't even realize that she has them most of the time.)

Emily hurts herself so often that when we ask to a crying girl, "What happened?" the response is now, "I hurt myself..." "How?" "I don't know...."

With the constant little bang-ups during the day it's amazing that kids make it through the day in one piece.