Red, Red Blood

Sarah became aware of blood this week.

Her friend fell while playing and got a small cut on his toe. Sarah was curious about his injury and inspected the wound closely. When his mom carried him to his car, I explained that she was going to clean his toe so that he wouldn't get blood on his car seat.

She then started repeating, "Blood on his car seat?".

At that point, I wished I could take my explanation back. I didn't want her to be horrified by the thought of blood spilling from her and even worse, of that blood soaking her seat. But, it was too late. I had given the red liquid a name, and I had given it the power to stain a car seat.

The next day, while running full speed across the parking lot at Overpriced Daycare, she took a major spill - a road rash kind of spill. I grimaced, but she got up, brushed herself off and seemed ready to go again. Until, perfect little balls of dark blood formed on her knees.

For a moment, she stared at the scrapes, fascinated by the wounds. Then, the realization that blood was leaking from her knees hit her. Full-scale tears and sobs came pouring out of her. "Blood! Blood! Agghhgh!!!"

I carried her to the car and tried to clean her skinned knees. But, she wouldn't let me. So, I started driving us home with her sobbing in the back seat. Occasionally, the crying paused while she inspected the blood. Then, the drama unfolded again. "Blood! Blood! Agghgh!!!" It took a long time and several distractions at home to get her mind off of the blood and to end the theatrical proclamations of her bleeding.

The next morning, she woke up and started calling for us as usual. I went into her room and found her in the downward facing dog position inspecting her knees. Hearing me come in, she asked, "Where's my blood? Where's my blood?"

I was confused for a bit. Just as I was about to start on a long explanation involving veins and arteries, I remembered her scraped knees. So, I went over, examined her legs and said, "You're all better. The blood is gone."

Happily, she proclaimed, "I'm all better. No more blood!"

And, the drama was capped - for a while...