Addie came home today with bandages on both of her knees. They didn't look too good, the bandages looked like they had been soaked through with something. She was hobbling around really slow. Jenn didn't pay really close attention to what had happened, and really with good reason because Addie is a huge baby and has no pain threshold whatsoever.
Both of the older girls had activity days today, it's close enough to walk. A couple of neighbor girls came over and wanted Bailey and Addie to walk with them. They were running a little late, so Jenn started to threaten Addie with trouble if she didn't move her butt with the rest of the girls. "I swear Addie, if you make the rest of the girls 20 minutes late to activity days you're in trouble" and "It won't hurt if you don't think about it" They set off somewhat briskly, and Addie was already lagging behind. Jenn was yelling out the front door "ADDISON, YOU'VE GOT TO BEND YOUR KNEES, YOU CAN'T WALK THAT WAY!!! WALK NORMAL!!!" I asked Jenn if she had even looked at Addie's knees and she said no. I said they looked pretty banged up to me. Then I went downstairs.
A few minutes later, Addie came back home, alone, and crying. Jenn finally looked at her legs, which were pretty chewed up. Apparently, today at school Addie was running to try to get first in line on the monkey bars, and she tripped and fell on the concrete, skinning her knees something fierce. She went to the office, where they put some bandages on her, and told her to call home. They let Addie use the office phone, but since she doesn't use the phone much, she didn't know what to do when Jenn's voice mail picked up. Then rather than try to contact us themselves, they sent Addie back to class where she probably suffered through the day. Her left knee isn't too bad, looks like a rug burn, but the right knee has lost a few layers of skin and looks really painful. We slathered it with antibiotic, and let her watch cartoons.
Jenn feels bad now, but I think it's funny. I wouldn't ever think about using the word heartless to describe my wife, so the thought of her screaming menacingly at her hobbled daughter as she struggles to keep up with her healthy sister and friends strikes me as humorous. Now Jenn has set a precedent for how I can treat the kids' injuries. Rub some dirt in it and walk it off you big baby.
