The Power of Reassurance

A couple of weeks ago one Sunday evening the boys were a bit rambunctious, a little more so than usual. I had just sat down with a long sigh when I heard what sounded like a stampede along with shrieks and shrills of giggling boys following. With great effort I motioned for Cameron to stay put and told him that I’d go up. Just as I stood from my oh so comfortable seat a loud ear piercing shriek echoed through the house and I quickened my pace as I now flew up the stairs. Edison had tripped and landed face first into the doorframe. He met me at the top of the stairs with his hands holding his mouth while blood trickling between his fingers along with a few bloody handprints on the wall and door behind him.

After embracing him and quickly assessing the situation we determined he’d need stitches. His top lip was spit open. So I wrapped him in a blanket and hurried out to the car. Off to the emergency room we went.

We had fallen asleep while we waited to be seen so they gave him a smaller dose of anesthesia. He was still interacting with us through out the procedure. I held his hands while they called in two strong men to help hold him down. Apparently he wasn’t ‘out’ as much as they had hoped. As the two hospital workers strained and sweated to hold him still. I held his hands and talked to him trying to comfort him. I reminded him of the green rocket he built with dad and when they launched them off and gave him other words of comfort and encouragement. He began to relax a little as I did.

I must say I hadn’t expected to get a front and center seat. It was a little surreal watching them stick a long sharp needle through my sons wide open lip and sew him back together. But duty as a mother comes first and he needed the tender touch and soothing sound of his mom. I wasn’t about to let go of him leaving him alone through this.

They finally finished and I was able to hold him in my lap. The anesthesia began to wear off and he mumbled that he was still having bad dreams. I told him everything was all over and that I wasn’t going to leave him. As I stroked his hair I asked what he dreamt about. He told me that the police were chasing him, but he was faster and got away. After a pause he said that I was in his dreams and that I was happy. I asked him if there was anything else and he said he dreamt about one green rocket and being with dad.

So my presence had made a difference. It’s amazing how powerful the soft spoken word and gentle touch is. They can turn away anger and overcome fear in an instance changing an ill mood from night to day.

A few moments passed and he looked up into my eyes with all sincerity and much concern asking, “Mom, do I have a new nose and lips?” Holding him closer I reassured him they were still his very own nose and lips. Just as handsome as always.

An Easter Rocket

Every night the boys test my creativity forcing me to stretch my imagination to the very ends of the universe. Each night they flood Cameron and I with requests for stories. Usually about their latest interest or things that have intrigued them as of late. Last night was no different. I was bombarded with various topics. Edison wanted a rocket story, one that talked about rockets being built. Often I start off sputtering and staggering until I get some direction and an actual storyline develops. One has to be quick in their thinking when telling them a story. For long drawn out lulls just aren’t tolerated. As I am not a rocket scientist I began to sputter through the beginning of the story.

So uuuuuuuhhhh long time ago they were trying to figure out how to build a rocket. They tried all kinds of things, but nothing was working. So there was uuuuuuuuuhhh bunny rabbit(bunnies being a hot topic this time of year) that was watching all of this. And one day he had an idea, “I bet I could build a rocket”.
So he planted a seed and a carrot started growing and growing and growing until it was as big as a bike. He then carved a hole in the carrot and hallowed it out. He crawled inside to check it out as he pondered how he was going to get this thing off the ground. Then he remembered something his neighbor had in his barn. He hopped inside his barn and rummaged around until he found an old box of fire works. He picked out a few and hopped back to his workshop. He stuck ‘em in the back of his carrot and lit ‘em up. Quickly he climbed inside his rocket while shutting the door behind him he braced himself.

Suddenly the carrot began to tremble and then shake and then SWOOOSH! “We have blast off!” he shrieked. That rocket zoomed straight up into the sky. The bunny rabbit circled the earth well, “it must have been a zillion times”, he thought, until he landed back on his front porch. He hopped out of his rocket and he bounced up and down and all around with glee. He was so excited. He stopped mid hop in mid air, something caught his eye, “I have an idea!”. As he had been hopping with sheer joy the bright colorful eggs he paints were sparkling through his workshop window. See this is no ordinary bunny rabbit. This bunny paints eggs. He paints them all different colors and decorates them with the most beautiful pictures. He’s an artist bunny. But they were piling up in his house and his workshop he had so many. His great idea was that he would deliver his prized eggs to each of his friends as a gift. So he filled his rocket up with eggs and hopped back into the barn to pick out some more fireworks. But, this time he left some of his special painted eggs in return. And away he went. Up up and into the sky. He zoomed all over the barnyard and through the meadow and into the forest. Leaving his little treasured eggs on the doorstep of each of his friends home. Then he landed his rocket back inside his workshop just before the sun started coming up. He curled under his blankets with a smile on his face.

When he awoke he exclaimed, “ that was so much fun, I want to do it again, I have another idea!”. So he began painting more eggs and he painted and painted the most beautiful of all the eggs ever. He filled his carrot full and hopped back to the barn for more fireworks. Leaving the most spectacular egg of all for the farmer. He climbed in the rocket braced himself and SWOOSH! Up up and away he went. This time he delivered his hand crafted eggs to all the boys and girls through out the entire world.

When he returned home he had the biggest smile ever and he hopped right to work. “I’ve got to get started on my eggs if I’m going to have them ready.” He spent the next year painting and preparing his special eggs and from then on every spring the puzzled but pleased farmer would always leave a box of fireworks in the barn in return for a most spectacular egg. Not only is that how the Easter Bunny came to be but, that’s how he gets around so quickly, a rocket made out of the biggest carrot ever.