Things you don't want to hear

There are many things that a mother does not want to hear coming from her kids' lips as they play in the other room. One of them is, "Just hurry up and wipe it off." The other is, "You'd better put your bicycle helmet on before you do that." I have heard both of these blood-chilling sentences today. The first in reference to the WORST possible thing a kid could want to hurriedly wipe off: blood. A friend's blood, no less. In his defense, my son wasn't sure if the blood came from him "punching her in the face," or from "her slamming her face into his chest." Ah, details... The second phrase, the one about the bicycle helmet, came when the boys were outside working on their new fort. They have been very hush-hush about what precipitated this comment, but seeing as the advice came from someone who once told me his baby brother "wasn't doing anything dangerous" as he wielded a machete, I nipped that activity session in the bud REAL fast. Too bad big brother wasn't doling out advice when the 3 year old and his friend drove their toy tractor off a 3 foot cliff, landing it upside down in the sand pit. A bicycle helmet would have come in pretty handy at that point of the day. (Fortunately the two dare-devils escaped with nothing but a few minor scratches, thank God.) They are now plopped safely in front of some cartoons, and I am resting my nerves. I think we might have had enough healthy activity for one day.