Bruised from Babysitting

When I have a screaming child in the middle of a night terror - that is, sleeping but "awake" and crying inconsolably - who needs to pee, my common sense flies out the window. I learned this lesson last week. The only thing running through my head was, "Puh-lease don't wet your jammies, don't wet your jammies, don't wet your jammies!" For fear that I'd wake the child and make her even more disoriented, I picked her up, jogged over to the steps descending into the bathroom attached to her bedroom and slowly made my way down the four steps without turning on the light. Big mistake. Much to my dismay, I discovered that there were actually five steps. Not four. FIVE.

All things considered, especially in the dark, I gracefully broke the fall. My left knee and right elbow landed on the ground (my arms were holding the kid tightly against my body) but the front of my left shin sharply fell against the edge of the last step. My babysitting charge was safe in my arms unharmed having had no impact with anything whatsoever. In fact, she was clueless to her surroundings - she was so disoriented in the middle of her night terror she wouldn't have known if Cinderella herself appeared out of thin air. I silently cursed and glared at the last step as the little girl sat sobbing, yawning and tinkling on her potty. It was a painfully low moment for both of us.

A week later, the bruises have turned pretty colors. My left shin is arguably the prettiest of them all.