These kids of mine are no strangers to bumps and bruises. They play hard and are tough. We usually “walk off” a lot of their minor injuries, or they will sit there harping on it for days. We literally have had hours of tears before over a hang nail.

This morning, Taylor said she couldn’t walk on stairs because her leg hurt her. I’m inclined to believe it was simply asleep and felt weird for a while, but we’ll see what happens when I get her from school. It could also be “growing pains.”  I know a few other kids her age have been having them and she is sprouting up! She asked me to have bandaids (or bandanas, as she calls them, still) ready for her when she gets home. Anyone with with kids, or anyone who has even been around kids for that matter knows that bandaids are magical. Those little gauzy, glorified stickers are usually enough to make any child feel better about his or her ailments.

When I picked the boys up from school today, they decided to full on rush into the house. They were a mere three feet away from me as I watched them collide. I’m pretty sure Joseph tripped over Jackson’s booted feet and just went down. I saw it happen. His arm went underneath him in an awkward way, his own boot flew off, and he landed on his back. Of course, he screamed and I rushed over to check his head, immediately. He was fine, but is going to be sore tomorrow! Poor baby. He has a small scrape on one arm and a small scrape with seriously the smallest dot of blood I’ve ever seen. When he saw the blood, he started yelling “I’m bleeding! I’m bleeding!” He completely lost any composure we had regained after the fall. Naturally, he asked for bandaids to feel better. I think seven was the magical number today. Seven bandaids slapped on his skin, and he was good to go. He is still dragging his injured leg behind him as if it was detached from his body, but he full on ran into the kitchen when I asked him if he wanted chocolate, so I think he’ll be just fine.

Jackson and Ranger were so concerned about this whole process. It was quite adorable. Jackson took seven trips to the garbage to dispose of the bandaid wrappers and kissed his brother’s boo boos multiple times. Ranger sat on the floor near Joseph’s feet and whined until I put him on the sofa next to his boys. After everything was said and done, Jackson looked at me with tears in his little eyes. I asked him what was wrong and he said “It hurts me too when brother gets hurt. It hurts me inside, but I don’t get a boo boo outside.” This isn’t the first time we’ve heard him say things like this, but it still gets to me every time. Their bond is so strong and pure and I’m in awe.