Boys experiment with scissors. Baby Girl does NOT appreciate experiment.

This morning, about 11:00 AM Eastern time to be more precise, I strapped Ellie into her booster seat at the kitchen table and told the boys to sit in their chairs. I handed the boys our plastic tub of crayons, each a pair of what I believed were children's safety scissors, a glue stick and blank paper.

This arrangement usually provides me with 15-20 minutes of uninterrupted chore time. I keep half an ear on the kitchen and go about my work. And so I did today. But the 15 minutes ended up costing me the rest of the afternoon.

My subconscious mind realized the boys were up to mischief with Ellie. I could hear it in their voices. But it didn't sink into my conscious mind to go check on them. And then Ellie yelled. The kind of yell that means "I'm hurt!!!" The yell that causes all mommas to drop what they are doing and hurry to the source of the yell.

When I walked into the kitchen both boys were kneeling on chairs on either side of Ellie and leaning towards her. Each had a pair of scissors in his hand. By this time she'd taken a huge deep breath and then proceeded to wail at the top of her lungs like she was being beat.

Only she wasn't being beat. She had been cut!! I could see blood pouring from her chubby little palm. One of her "loving" big brothers had cut her little hand!! Will quickly threw Ben under the bus for the deed. I sent both boys to sit on their beds until I had Ellie calmed down and cleaned up.

I grabbed my trusty "Blood" washcloth. (It's a dark purple so no stains show.) And pressed it on her hand. The cut is on her right hand. Palm side. Over the knuckle area. Just between the pointer and middle finger.

After about 5 minutes Ellie had calmed down enough she no longer wanted to sit on my lap. I managed to get a band-aid on her and then she was off again to play. You can't keep that girl down for long!

At that point I called Ben to the bathroom (where we minister "discipline" to the "seat of correction"). I think he now understands that you do NOT cut Sister, or anyone else for that matter, with scissors. Then I called Will into the bathroom. It didn't take long for him to confess to TELLING BEN TO CUT ELLIE. Needless to say he received a little correction, as well as a lecture on how telling someone to do something wrong is just as bad as doing it yourself.

A few minutes later I noticed Ellie's band-aid needed to be replaced. As I looked at the cut I couldn't tell if it needed stitches or not. So I called the pediatrician's office and spoke to the nurse. By this time it was 12:08. She said to come in at 1:00. You have to like a doctor's office that will fit you in like that! So I called Joel who agreed to drive home (he had the van). We loaded everyone up, took daddy back to work and then drove to the pedi's office. And made it there right at 1:00.

Thankfully, the doctor said the cut is a "flesh wound" and doesn't need stitches. We just have to keep it clean and covered for the next few days.

There are days I tell Joel at supper, "You still have three children. It was a good day." Today was one of those days.