"I Got Stuck"

Saturday was my company picnic. It was at a corporate event site where we were in the mountains - a lake for fishing and paddle boating, lots of food, give-aways and a tire swing. I took Katie so Suzie and her sister, Bonnie, could relax and go to a movie.

It was a great day for a picnic as it had cooled off from the week long high temperatures. We quickly looked around and decided to get out on the lake. Katie and I maneuvered the boat and paddled all over the place, but it was too restrictive for her as she couldn't jump in the lake or move around. Once we got back onshore, she noticed the "balloon man" who made her a princess crown and magic wand (which I ended up holding most of the picnic). And then... she saw the tire swing. She never left it!

Several of the big kids loved swinging her around and around. She took a VERY quick break to eat an orange creamcicle but then never left the swing. It worked out great for me as she was in between the food and the sitting area. We had been there about three hours -- and I was just getting ready to REALLY eat -- when Katie saw that the other big kids were eating their ice cream on the tire swing. Since she didn't have one, she asked me if she could have another orange one. I said yes and had just handed it to her when I heard in a voice that you know something is wrong... "I got stuck!"

My first thought was she had her foot stuck in the tire as she was busy working on her ice cream. I quickly moved towards the swing but saw that her feet weren't caught nor her hands. I started to slow down when she jumped off. But, as she began to turn towards me I saw the blood. My heart sank...

The ice cream had been on dry ice and they were so cold that it stuck to her tongue. Since she had never experienced this before she did not know what to do. She didn't know that pulling it away would cause injury. There was blood everywhere and across her tongue was a quarter inch strip pulled away. My first thought was "how can I hold her while I drive to the emergency room? I can't believe she has to sit in the back in her car seat by herself." Ugh.

People around me grabbed water and the scarves that had been on the tables (cowboy theme) and we kept putting light pressure on her tongue with the wet scarves. I asked her to be calm so we could get it to stop (she never did scream, just yelled "I got stuck" and began to cry/look worried when she saw the blood). She stood quietly (a big tear ran down her check) and never made a sound. After about what seemed a lifetime, the bleeding became controlled. We grabbed our stuff, a fresh cloth and walked to our car. She just walked beside me with the cloth in her mouth and as I watched her all I could see was saddest eyes looking up from a cowboy themed scarf in her month. The only thing she said was... "we need to tell Mama."

We drove home (about 20 minutes) and got back to the apartment easily. While it was the first time she could see it, her tongue had stopped bleeding and her view of it in the mirror wasn't as bad as it could have been. I decided there wasn't much we could do and that a trip to the emergency room did not make sense. We snuggled together (with her blanket) and watched an hour to the "good night show" - one of her favorite shows to watch in the evenings (it is on early here and plays again until later into the evening). After about an hour, she began to get active and be much more like the old Katie. She kept waiting for Mama and looking at her tongue, and slowly she got back to normal. By the time Mama got home, Katie was her old self... with a scraped tongue.

Suzie and I both told her that it would begin healing during the night while she slept. When she woke up in the morning, she went straight for the bathroom (it is usually coming over to me to wake me up) and turned on the light. I popped up from bed - wondering why she had done that - and as she turned off the light and saw me she said "it is all healed - my tongue is better!" It was that smile that made me feel better.

The day ended with a trip to the Disney store. I am happy to report that the weekend ended without any additional injuries!