Beat Down

Where to start..... Ben, well, he is a scrapper. I thought John was pretty rough but Ben takes the cake. I have never had a biter, a real hitter, thrower or generally mean child. Ella and Jack are people pleasers and while Jack will whine, he will share. John is getting better and usually he and Jack have a screaming tug of war but we have not had any real memorable injuries caused by a sibling....until now. I guess it is because he is the youngest or maybe because he can't communicate as well but Ben is a fighter. You want his toy? You are going to have to fight him for it. Usually you don't know it is a fight until he is trying to pinch your face off or eat your finger but it is a fight to him. If one of the kids tries to move him off a toy, he will let them wrap their arms around his chest and as they begin to pull he will leave a nice bite mark bruise on their arm to remind them that he was playing with it first. He has a much more aggressive manner than my other three. I pray daily he finds the words to say what he means and leaves the Rocky attitude behind. Now, to the...incident.

As i am preparing dinner, i hear John and Ben playing in the living room. I can tell John is doing what he does best, aggravating. I can hear John running and jumping and some na nana boo boos and then i hear Ben scream. Then i hear a thud and John starts crying. I mean one of those something is wrong cries. What do i do? I keep cooking dinner. I guess i figure they will come into the kitchen to tell on each other so why stop cooking. John comes around the corner with blood all over his hands and dripping from his face. I obviously panic. I get him to the sink and start washing his mouth thinking i am dealing with a busted lip and i send up a quick prayer that he didn't get any blood on Wes's couch. i sit him up to asses and HOLY COW! Yeah, i had a busted lip and bleeding teeth. I still can't understand a single word that John is saying because of the crying and the extremely swollen lip. i get him a change of clothes and lay him in my bed with ice and cartoons. Ben got in big trouble. Fast forward, everyone is in bed and i check John's mouth. We have one loose tooth. and he looks like this.

I let him sleep with me so i can monitor him through the night. I wake up and the swelling is up in his face so i call my firefighter neighbor and ask what to do. He says take him in for x-rays just in case. I call my mom, she asks my high school healthcare teacher and the other healthcare teacher on campus. They say take him to the dentist. Good thing i was just there! I call the dentist and they say bring him in. This is what he looked like about 16 hours after hit in the face.

Thank the Lord, nothing was broken. All roots were in tact, jaw bone looked good, and we got some medicine for the busted lip/ulcers that were coming when lip started to heal and we had three loose teeth. There are four things that can happen. 1. His teeth can die and discolor. Nothing to do for that since it is just cosmetic. 2. His roots can deteriorate faster. Meaning he teeth will fall out sooner. I am not sure that means the permanent teeth will come in any quicker. 3. He can get an abscess. This means an automatic pulling out of abscessed teeth and again like option two, might leave Johnny toothless for a little while. Or 4. None of the above. The three loose teeth could tighten back up and be fine until it is time for them to fall out on their own. It is a wait and see. So you wonder what happened that fateful day? John pushed Ben around a little too much and Ben retaliated by throwing a Leapster Explorer at his head at an extremely close proximity. I am sure Ben didn't intentionally mean to hit him in the face but that little boy has an arm and John can tell you it is no fun being on the receiving end. Here is John and "the weapon".

It is okay to laugh a little at him. Half his face looks like he is a Who from Whoville. :) This is the inside of his lip two days later. His gums were the same purple.

He enjoyed all the yogurt and ice cream he got to eat while he recuperated. Most of all, i am sure you will all be glad to know that Ben has not broken his spirit. John still goes up behind Ben and pulls his ears and puts his feet on him just to hear him scream but, John has gotten a little quicker in dodging Ben swings. I think John learned a lesson.