Don't Run in the House

As a boy in the days of black & white, my best friends were identical twins. Most kids got them mixed up but I could tell the difference. Matching clothes, hair cuts or not I knew Mike from Mark. At puberty and beyond many of us drifted apart but not this pair. To this day, decades later, they speak and see each other weekly where I have not seen them for a good decade now. I guess it’s no accident that some relationships have built in connection and staying power.parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bmultiples/0,,43wt-p,00.html


So, it was not much surprise when my Quad-son Matthew, after recently sitting in the waiting area of our local “Doc in the Box “ for a long, long time (by five-year-old standards) sighed and said “ I miss Jonathan, Franchesca and Nathaniel, when can we go home to them?” No mention of Mom, neither older nor toddler sisters and not much comfort from my presence. The other three were missing and this, not his impending medical procedure, was his growing concern.

Now a scant hour before, Matthew was in the car with a compress to his head demanding justice. Jonathan had knocked him down. “When we get home Jonathan’s gotta get a spanking daddy!?!” was his refrain. Of course there was no mention of the multiple times their mother had just asked them to not run in the house, pleaded for them to slow down and sagely predicted dire result should her warning not be heeded.

You see, I had just come in the front door with our oldest; the self-described “band-geek” when Franchesca met me with news that Matthew was bleeding “all over his face.” www.mayoclinic.com/health/first-aid-cuts/FA00042Years of parenting with advanced Graduate work as a quad-father has left me with iron nerves. Though you might expect I’d have none left at all. Still this type of information gets rapid response, quick reaction and top priority but no panic.

While running in multiple orders, two or more, in this case four, when in the lead and you are the smallest do not make a sudden stop. Commuters know this. Camry’s and Kia’s do not lock em up in front of Suburban’s and Mack trucks. Matthew stopped, Jonathan did not. The resulting transfer of energy put Matthew on the floor soundly. www.lifespy.com/2007/how-to-prevent-accidents-indoors/The blow must have been evenly distributed like a square shot from a boxer’s glove. There was no growing bump or bruise just a clean split, 3 quarters inch long, 3 eighths inch wide just above the right ear. kidshealth.org/teen/safety/first_aid/falls_sheet.html

Mom had the situation in hand but...

(Check back soon to see how Mom & the crew handled the drama)