Stitches or the Zoo

That's a tough call to make.  Do you want to spend a day at the zoo or head to the urgent care for stitches?  A decision had to be made so I announced it to the family, "Let's go to the zoo!".  It was around 11am on a cool day.

We started pulling ourselves together.  At least one person was still in their pajamas.  As people scrambled around the house to get ready I created a plan.  McDonald's drive through for lunch, the zoo, and then a short visit to the playground.

Within five minutes everyone was starting to gather around the couch.  I couldn't believe it.  Had I announced a hiking trip they would still be in pajamas.  Announce McDonald's and they are hustling to load the car.

As I was tying my shoes I heard a shrill from the girl's room.  Cari was the first to investigate.  Anytime that kind of noise comes out of kid, she's tough to beat to the scene.  It doesn't matter if she is in the bathroom, outside cutting grass, or in the kitchen with a hot pan in her hand.  She's going to beat you to that kid.

A bit of blood was on Brenna's shirt and face.  She had a small gash near the side of her mouth on the lower part of her cheek.  Cari took her into the bathroom and I went to Brenna's room to investigate.  Randy was with me and together we used our CSI skills to unravel the mystery of the deep cut.  In the closet was a small plastic stool laying on its side.  Nearby was a tall shoe rack.  This is the type of shoe rack that hangs on a wall or door with plastic pockets for shoes.  In one of the pockets was a giant pencil, pointy side out.  Maybe you're asking yourself why the shoes of a three year old are hanging so high in the first place.  Maybe you are wondering why a giant, pointy pencil was sticking out of a shoe pocket.  Then again, maybe you are wondering why we have kids to begin with.  These are the questions that CSI Randy and CSI Me had to answer.

Brenna must have been reaching for some shoes when the stool tipped over, and the pointy pencil grabbed her face on the way down.  I took the over sized pencil, showed it to my CSI partner, who agreed with my theory, and then I put the pencil back in the shoe pouch - pointy side DOWN.

The cut wasn't very wide, but it was deep.  Cari suggested stitches.  I suggested a band-aid.
A few hours, and four stitches later, we were headed to the zoo.

It was now dinner time for the animals and the air was cool.  The animals were very active.  All except the giant tortoises. I don't believe they get excited about anything.  We were hoping we'd get to see the lion chase down a gazelle or maybe one of the giraffes, but most of the animals were just eating vegetables.

Brenna was also very active at the zoo.  It would be hard to tell that just hours earlier she cut her face open and then had a doctor sew her back together.  If it were I, I'd still be laying on the couch moaning and crying.