Parenting, Work, Life: Figuring it all out.

There was an incident this evening at small group. The boy was playing and crawling around and generally having a good time. He crawled over to where Mom was sitting and pulled up on her leg. Then he proceeded to fall over and crack the side of his head on a decorative element of the chair leg. There was screaming. Well, there was screaming after he was able to take in a breath. This was perhaps the worst head injury he’s sustained to date and frankly scared us a bit.
Head injuries always scare me the most. Cuts, scrapes, broken bones, I am prepared to handle any of them. The thought of damage to his little brain, however, paralyzes me with fear. I want him to grow up and be smart and capable like his daddy. I want to be able to pass on all the useless trivia I’ve accumulated, to watch and discuss movies together, to eventually be beaten by him in strategic board games.
So when I saw the lump forming on the side of his head I, of course, played all of the worst possible case scenarios out in my head while simultaneously trying to comfort him and pretend that the bump on his head wasn’t a big deal. He did settle down after a few minutes and resumed playing on the floor. We kept a close eye on him, though, to watch for sinister signs of deeper injury. All appears to be well for the time being.