It's Hard Being A Dad Sometimes.

shopping cart warning
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527

You know it's inevitable. Kids get hurt. I expect my children to fall and hit their head, get cut or bleed, knock out a tooth or break a bone eventually. It's all part of being a kid, but when you see a 2 year-old get hurt it's heart wrenching, especially when it's your own.

Yesterday Isa took a nasty fall from a shopping cart that seemed like it was in slow motion. I know I know. Children aren't supposed to sit in the buggy of the shopping cart - only in the allowed seat with the belt. It says so on the cart. El has reminded me countless times that it's dangerous, but Isa's tantrums refusing to sit properly made this a bad habit early on.

Picture this...she's standing on top of one of those big bags of dog food in the cart LEANING over the side clinging to a clothing rack at the store playing. Lately she's gotten into the habit of grabbing things as we roll past them. I can't remember if I moved the cart while she was leaning over or if her legs kind of pushed the cart away as she was hanging on to a rack of clothes. All I saw was her slowly falling over the side face first onto the thinly carpeted floor and her legs and feet in a reverse "C" behind her head.

I ran over to her as fast as I could, but it was too late. It looked like a hard fall. It took her a second to realize what happened and immediately started screaming. It looked like blood was coming out of her nose as I checked her face and hugged her hard. El and I tried to assess her condition as quickly, but calmly, as possible. Did she hit her teeth? Did she hurt her neck or back? We found out she skinned the top of her mouth below her nose badly. It took awhile to stop the bleeding, She stopped crying fairly quickly, but it just looked like a BAD fall. It would've hurt me and she's just a little girl.

It was also her nap time and as we got to the car (her clinging to me) she wanted to sleep which kind of freaked me out even more. I did what I could to keep her awake, but she really wanted to sleep. Her mouth looked swollen as did her eye, It seemed like her speech was a little slow and groggy, It was starting to be too much for me. Eventually we got home and decided to let her sleep.

When she awoke she was still a little out of it so it seemed and not hungry. I was hoping she didn't break a tooth or worse fracture anything. Later in the evening she seemed back to her laughing self, although maybe my paranoia made it seem like her speech was off. I felt awful.

Today she seems better although banged up. Her lip is skinned and reddish purple. Around her eye seems tender. She even tried to eat cookie, but flinched some when she tried to bite it so she hasn't eaten much today. She's scared to be held up higher than on my shoulder and is if I turn her sideways like we used to. All understandable. Other than that she still plays rough, laughs and scampers around. El wanted to take her to a "Doc-In-The-Box" today just in case, but I don't want to be too paranoid. She seems fine other than what I'm hoping is just light bruising, although the flinching when she bites scares me.

Monday El is taking her to the pediatrician and to get an exam. My poor baby girl. Spare my children any pain and I'll gladly take their hurt for myself.