Sliver

Shelby and Tyson came home with old, worn bamboo shoots on Tuesday, waving them around like swords.  It was all fun and games, until Tyson parried an attack from Shelby and smacked into a picture, knocking it off my gallery wall.  I told them to take their shoots to the yard waste garbage cans outside.  That wasn't enough for Tyson, though, he wanted to play with it a while longer.  About ten minutes later, he came inside, inspecting his finger.

"Mom, I was just throwing it on the cement and it just broke open and gave me a splinter!"  You could tell he was confused that the simple act could produce that particular end result.  It was like he was searching his memory to be sure he was remembering the scene correctly.

Since he had Scouts in 10 minutes (Yes, I told him he needed to get his uniform on.  No, it was not on yet... because he was distracted) I told him that I'd have to help him get the sliver out when he got home.

When he got home, I was proud of myself for remembering that we still had some numbing cream from Caden's medical stuff.  I put some on the finger, covered it with a bandaid, and prolonged the "surgery" for an hour.  When the timer rang out, Tyson practically sprinted to the bathroom to get the tools.  That single act had me getting a bit queasy-- I was going to have to pull out that sliver!!!

When we sat down, I lightly touched the needle to Tyson's finger.  "Can you feel that?"  Thinking, "Kind of, I guess."  And I saw my chance.  "Tyson, I'm not very good at getting these out without hurting you too much.  Could we wait for your dad to get home?"  He said yes, clearly not wanting me to hurt him.  It just seemed so weak to admit to him that I was ready to pass out at the thought of pulling that sliver out.

Randy will be home today.  Tyson couldn't wait another minute last night.  I saw no way around it-- I had to tell him the real reason I couldn't do it.  Bless her, Keilie offered to get it out for him-- pain-free.  They went into the bathroom while I sat on the computer chair, fretting.  I admit it publicly:

I AM A WEAKLING!!!

Five minutes later, Tyson walked out looking relieved; Keilie triumphant.

Look at me providing teaching moments for my kids!  Tyson learned to trust in Keilie; Keilie learned to trust in herself.  Guess it was a Good Mom moment after all.