KABOOOOOOM!

That sound is standard background noise in our house. Typically, such racket is produced by a little boy-head hitting a wall/floor/table, or frequently it is a train/truck/stuffed dog being propelled onto some unfortunate surface. We’ve learned to be more concerned about the “post-kaboom” sounds rather than the actual thud: it varies between passionate bawling, minor expressions of “ouch” or exuberant laughter.

This morning however, we heard a KABOOM followed by complete silence. Not good. Seconds before, I was vaguely aware of Neels sailing thru the air – a common sight around here. This time he aimed for and missed a huge stuffed gorilla. His head hit some corner molding.

The next few awfully silent seconds seemed to happened in slow motion. Scott ran to pick Neels up and brought him into the kitchen, where he finally erupted into an acute howl. [Afrikaans: potbloumoord ] Instantaneously a bloody blue knot arouse from his temple. The louder his screaming, the bigger the bump seemed to grow. Did he hit a blood vessel? Is that his brain popping out? Has his eyeball shifted to the side of his head? (No, parents tend not to be rational when their child is in serious pain while simultaneously developing scary looking growths.)


This picture does not do the size or color of that knot justice. It is HUGE and very blue.

Our frantic first aid solution: ice! Yeah right. He put up such a fight towards our sensible treatment attempts that we cautiously predicted that he was already on his way to recovery. After 10 minutes of TLC (most of it coming from Devan who piled every favorite toy, book, bear and blanket on top of his injured brother), we received confirmation that the outward consequences of the accident appeared to be far worse than any internal or permanent damages incurred. Here is what he set out to do while there was still a wet tear on his chubby cheek:


Look ma, no hands! Leaaaaaping fearlessly off a chest.

Thankfully there are pillows in place to buffer his contact with the floor this time.

Now I wonder…would this behavior indicate that there is indeed some internal damage in the cranial area… or is it safe to say he is a quick-to-recover-adventurous-risky-healthy boy?