before dawn

Grandma and grandpa S stopped by for a short visit last weekend.  Have I said this is the best fall ever?  There we were sitting on the back patio of Pekara in downtown Champaign on the first Sat in Nov.  And it was sunny also, which clearly overwhelmed my photography skills.

They left our house at 5am on Sunday to drive home.  Our human fire alarm, Janny, woke them up, so they decided to get moving.  Oddly, they didn't leave when she first yelled at 2 am.

On Thursday, we heard a loud thump at 5:30 am followed by some crying.  Clara tried to climb out of bed and fell down boom.  She calmed down enough to ask for milk and fell asleep shortly afterwards.  We all woke up at a reasonable hour and did our normal morning activities (eating raw eggs, doing 500 pushups and situps, practicing Latin, and developing our political theory).  Only when I picked up Clara to change her diaper did Jill notice some stains on her shirt.  When she was on the changing table, I saw a large gash below her chin.  Yikes!  As a doctor, I knew right away that she needed stitches.  As the wrong kind of doctor, I could do nothing for her.

So we called the doctor's office to learn where to take her.  Convenient care (CC).  For those outside of the U.S., you really want CC rather than the emergency room if you need emergency treatment but all your limbs are relatively attached.  CC = good.  Emergency room = bring a novel.

Janny is not too worried about our impending trip to CC, or all that worried about Clara either.  Actually, Clara is not concerned about her chin either at this point.  At about this time our friend Jaime stopped by to see if we needed anything from the grocery store.  Clara wouldn't show off her cut.

We got past the CC door almost immediately.  Clara started to get stressed.  She didn't want to be weighed or have her blood pressure taken.  Then she really didn't want the numbing paste rubbed on her chin.  Then the nurse tied her arms to her waist with a sheet, and 2 nurses held her down with all their might.  She said, 'mommy, daddy' a zillion times and thrashed against the nurses while the doctor stiched her up.

Then she was calm.  Since we were at the clinic, I got my flu shot (with 4 kids staring at me from less than 10 feet away.  Consequently, I couldn't reach my happy place, and my shoulder felt bruised all day).  The nurse gave us all (except Janny) candy after poking me.

All our plants are getting ready for winter, save one.  A pink rose bloomed this week.