Legends of the Falls

Tonight, Ivy and Story both fell. Twice.

I was watching my neighbor's little boy while she ran a quick errand. I took him up to the house, got a stroller, and planned on following Ivy and Story on their bikes as they trolled the neighborhood. As I pushed the stroller down the hill, I heard screams.

Ivy was laying face down in the grass of my neighbor's house. I started to walk faster toward her when my neighbor moved slightly and I saw Story spreadeagled on the pavement. I had no idea what was happening.

Apparently, they simultaneously fell. Ten feet away from each other. I gathered up the crying ones, grabbed the stroller, and made my way back to the house. The girls sat in the driveway and my little buddy and I went in and got band-aids, peroxide, and neosporin. I came back out and administered all three on knees and hands. The girls were instantly better, and went back down the street to play. I put the boy back in the stroller and away we went.

Before we caught up to the girls, wild screaming commenced. Why? Because Story was spreadeagled on the street again in the same place. Squealing and sobbing. Luckily, my neighbor was back to collect her son, so I scooped Story up and tried to get her to stop screaming. She didn't agree with me, and continued.

It was definitely time to go in. I walked down the street with my neighbor, Kellie, to yell for Ivy to come in. We stopped at the corner to chat for a moment while the kids ran around and Story flitted between laughing and squalling. In that short amount of time....Ivy met the pavement.

She scraped up both of her hands, and in the twilight I thought that was the worst of it. She cried and yelled the entire way back to the house on her bike, but I followed and soothes as best I could. She went in the house while Story and I put away the bikes and stroller. Suddenly, a blood curdling scream came from inside the house. Story and I dropped everything and ran (okay, she kind of toddled). All I could think was, "Someone's in the house!!"

Ivy came out of the bathroom with tears all over her cheeks. "Mommy, look at my eye!!!!!!!" she wailed. It was scraped up, puffy, and red. And it hurt a lot worse now that she had seen it. Relieved that no one was getting kidnapped by a stranger in the house, I ushered both girls to the couch, and laid out the materials needed to doctor them up. I endured a lot of screaming and pleas to stop as I cleansed the wounds.

When my husband came in from golfing, I gave him the task of trying to give them both ibuprofen (just so you know- convincing them that broccoli is candy would be easier). I told Ivy how good she'd been, and how brave. Of course, she looked at me like I was totally wrong (a disturbing new trait she's picked up lately). I said, "Really, Ivy! You rode your bike all the way up here hurt and everything!"

She responded with the funniest thing I have ever heard leave those cute little lips: Mommy, I am not brave. Did I cry? YES!!

I burst out laughing, which you know helped the situation tremendously. No, actually it just exaggerated the dirty looks.

Then Ivy laid her head back on the couch and screamed, "This is the worstest boo-boo I've ever had!"