Because I’m Compassionate Like That

Kellen announced to us yesterday that he had hurt his eye. He doesn’t remember how, or when; it’s not scratched or bruised or showing any sort of traumatic evidence, yet he maintains that his eye hurts and sat for a while today, watching TV and “holding” it gently. Personally, I think the entire thing is a ruse, in an attempt to have me buy him a pirate’s eye patch, but whatever. If he says his eye hurts, then his eye hurts.

To that end, Blaine went to Eckerd’s and bought Visine, because what the hell else are you supposed to do for eye pain? It’s not watering, it’s not bleeding, it’s not popping out of his skull. I’m really not sure what the Girl Scout first-aid and injury handbook would say for this sort of thing.

So Blaine brought the Visine home and attempted to put a few drops in the offending eye. That didn’t go over so well. Let’s just say I hope Kellen never needs any sort of medical procedure done. Ever. At all.

Tonight, right before bed, Kellen got into trouble. The kind of trouble that made him so mad and upset that he started crying, although at the extremely mature age of eight, he would be mortified to think I told you that, so if you ever repeat it I’ll deny it. But he was totally crying. Then he was so angry he stormed to his bedroom and cried himself to sleep.

I tried to go in and talk to him about it, but he had the covers pulled up over his head and refused to acknowledge me, despite my poking him in the leg several times and saying his name loudly.

Which, quite frankly, annoyed me. So rather than feel sorry for my poor, mistreated son, brought to tears by his awful, mean parents, when I walked out of the room, I mumbled to myself, “Well, at least there’s a good chance all those natural tears will help whatever the heck is wrong with his eye.”

The moral of the story? Reducing your child to tears is actually a good thing. When they have a non-existent eye injury, and you’re compassionate like that.

PS. I have gone back in the comments section for yesterday’s entry and responded to a few questions. Rather than responding to items in the journals, I think I’ll try answering in the comments section periodically myself. So if you asked a question, and you have a spare minute, you can go back and check for my answer. Not that my response is brilliant or anything. Just that it’s there. Which lately, is about the best I can promise.