Jonathan’s First Shiner

Though I hesitate to write another entry on bodily injury, this one really does merit highlighting. First, some background:

Jonathan is in the midst of an interesting new phase of life: potty training. Though his attitude toward the whole thing does wax and wane depending on his mood, he has now proven his ability to stay dry during the better part of a week. Satisfied with that accomplishment, he is back in the “I will go to the potty when I feel like it” phase. Given he just recently turned two, I think he is doing beautifully, and we are giving him his space on this one.

Well, Monday before his nap, he felt the need to visit the potty and so off he trotted. He did quite well until it came time to climb down when he tripped on his little stepstool (Jonathan is quite short and this particular stool has two levels on it) and fell into the side of the bathtub, eye first.

IMG_1132_small.jpgPoor Jonathan!! He hit just outside the corner of his eye and the area swelled up immediately and turned a pale shade of blue, then a darker shade of blue, then purple. All in about two minutes of time. I know it hurt him terribly, for he cried much longer than he normally would over a “bump”. After comforting him as best I could I made the call to my wonderful pediatric nurse (this was the worst “owie” we’d yet encountered in our 4+ years of parenting) who gave me the ins and outs of this type of injury, what to watch for, etc. Jonathan very sweetly submitted to my ministrations to his eye: icing the injured area while he lay very still in my arms, sucking on a “sticky lollipop” as he calls them.

Three days later my baby boy looks as though someone hauled off and punched him right in the eye. It has turned all various shades of purple, green, red and yellow. We get quite a few curious looks when we are out and about as well as many questions regarding the cause of the injury.

It is hard not to kick myself over this whole thing since I was with Jonathan in the bathroom and right there as he fell (he’s navigated the potty/stool successfully many times). Perhaps this is an early example of Mom not being able to be available to prevent all falls, bumps, bruises, etc. At any rate, we are being very careful with his tender little eye and trying to give extra hugs and kisses to our sweet Jonathan.

7 Replies to “Jonathan’s First Shiner”

  1. Poor Jonathan! I hate it when they get the big ugly owies. I hope his normal coloring returns quickly. Since you got good advice from your nurse, I will resist the temptation to give any.

  2. Thanks, Jennifer. The eye is already looking much less “angry”, and more importantly, it really doesn’t seem to give Jonathan any pain. As far as advice, probably the best for me would be to look out for him better when he is navigating the potty!

    I do notice he has been a bit hesitant to use the upstairs potty after the accident. If we’re upstairs and he has to go, he will usually request to go downstairs to “his potty” (where his little seat which affixes to the big potty stays most of the time).

  3. awww, poor kid. I still remember when my oldest son slipped in the bathroom after a bath. Hit his head on the door frame and got a nice little goose egg on his egg. It was a pretty big knot. I felt so horrible and guilty over it because I didn’t move fast enough to stop his fall. But, these things happen. I hope he recovers soon!!

  4. Something I recently learned is that there’s an enzyme in pineapples that lessens the visible effects of bruising. I was told to eat pineapple or drink pineapple juice for three or four days prior to oral surgery last month. I have no idea whether it has any effect after an injury, or just if it’s in your system before, but I don’t suppose it’d do any harm to try.

  5. Thanks for the tip Valerie. I’ve not heard of this before, but I’ll file it away for future reference. Given his love for almost all types of fruit, Jonathan will most likely enjoy pineapple juice too!

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