"I have blood!"

"I have blood!" Jo shrieked after a tumble on the driveway last night after supper.

Usually when he falls down he picks himself right up and reports, "I'm okay." before moving on. He is remarkably resilient that way. But when there is blood involved he freaks out completely.

So, two parents hovered over him at the sink trying to rinse out all the grit embedded into his cuts. He must have really hit hard as some of that grit was deeply embedded in the cut. LK had the brilliant idea of distracting him from his distress with Jelly Bellys. There are LK's favourite jelly bean, which we diligently hunt for every time we are in Winners (the best place to find them at a discount). Mouth full of beans, Jo submitted, not very graciously, to having his wounds cleaned somewhat.

With Mr. Men band aids on both palms he was tucked into bed. My last instructions to him were to leave the band aids alone so his boo boos could heal.

This morning he has one happy palm, well on its way to healing, and one cranky palm. The cranky palm has some grit left in the wound and is turning an ugly red. So, although the skin has started to close already, I tried to gently dig around with a needle to open it up and get the rest of the dirt out.

"That is closed already," Jo protested.

Oh, I hate having to make my kids more upset when they are hurt, but that dirt just can't stay in there. So, we sang a song to distract him from the poking. Now he has a fresh band aid and Neosporin slathered on the cut to help it heal. I hope that we got all the dirt this time.

The poor boy has new instructions this morning, "Stay out of the dirt today." Yeah, right. Like that will happen.