Not Even For A Minute

There's something very scary about seeing your 14 month old walk into the bathroom with her hands covered in blood.

This was how my day started today.

Elliana just woke up so I picked her up out of her crib and brought her into the bathroom with me. I had to use the bathroom so I set her down and she walked away.

This was not unusual, she usually plays while I go to the bathroom. I wasn't at all worried because we've spent a lot of time baby-proofing our house, and I thought we'd done a pretty good job. There really isn't anything she could do to get hurt.

Anyway, after she walked away, she came back into the bathroom only a minute later and her hands were covered in blood and she had blood near her mouth. The odd thing was she wasn't crying or scared. She just held her hands up to me as if to say "what is this stuff"?

I tried not to show panic, but inside I was totally freaked out. I quickly scooped her up, put her hands in the sink to wash them, and tried to find where the blood was coming from. After cleaning her up I discovered that the blood was coming from her index finger. There was a lot of it.

Finally, I was able to get a band aid (or two) on her finger. Now it was time to investigate what happened. I followed the blood on the walls from the bathroom into the kitchen (there was a line of blood where she ran her hands along the walls).

Here is the really odd and scary thing. I was never able to figure out how she cut her finger. Not a clue as to what happened. Other than the blood on the walls and on her, there wasn't blood anywhere else. Not anywhere. I didn't find a knife, a staple, glass, anything.

I am happy to report that after bleeding through several band aids the bleeding did slow down and eventually stop. It turned out to be a pretty minor cut. It just amazes me how even the most minor cuts bleed. A lot.

All I know is, I learned a hard lesson today that no matter how baby-proof our house may be, I can't let Elliana walk off on her own. Not even for a minute.

Since we had a rough morning and since the weather was SO beautiful today, I walked Elliana to the park by our house. Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip to the park:

I think she looks grown up here. When did she get so big?!


Here she is doing her favorite thing, swinging. She couldn't keep her eyes off of the other kids at the park.


She actually did a great job climbing the steps.


Here is a picture I took of the two of us.


These are just some fun pictures I took of Ellie earlier this week. She seems to be changing so quickly these days. She makes so many great faces.





These last two are some of my new favorite pictures of her.


Doesn't this face just scream mischief? ;)


Anyway, I'm happy that spring is so close. It felt so good to spend some time outside today.