Big Lips Kiss Frogs

"Fun Friday" didn't end well...actually, it ended with frogs in the bathtub, Diego in bed and cupcakes.  I guess it didn't start well. 

I had given up on Friday nights being super-cool and out of the ordinary because Friday seems to be the WORST night of the week for Adam,  like 'stay-out-of-his-way' bad. (Do you know why?  This is sad:  because he won't be able to go into the office the next day...or he's not suppose to...so he's stressed out about all he "didn't get done". Rain Cloud.)

So I've decided, why should Friday suck for all of us?  No more!  Fridays will be fun!  I, alone, am instituting "Fun Friday".  Which basically means, anything goes, the girls call the shots.  Last Friday?  They decided they wanted a coke icee from Burger King, play time on the playground at BK, the dinosaur Diego movie, unlimited frog catching time, chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles and supper from Zaxby's.  Easy enough. 

We started out at the nicest Burger King I could find, with the nicest playground.  The girls ran and played on the castle themed one, with fresh wood chips for about five minutes.  I fussed at Charlotte to run back the way she came and help her sister around the bend.  And she listened, but halway there, out of nowhere, she busted it.  Big time.  Screaming.  I scurried and scooped, convinced she had busted out a tooth, or four once I saw all the blood smeared all over her face, her shirt and her "asthma/allergy safe" baby doll, still cradled in her arms. 

We hightailed it into the restroom, where the fancy BK had no paper towels and she caught a glimpse of her blood-smeared face in the mirror and really let loose.  I'm telling myself, over and over again: staycalm.staycalm.staycalm.staycalm.staycalm.staycalm. Ruby is trailing me: 'I wanna coke ice!  Wanna coke ice!' I'm scannig the facilty looking for someone trustyworthy to tell me what to do.  The manager approaches, while I'm asking a girl for some papertowels to absorb the blood and suggests we head to the emergency room.

SHIT. 

What, for stitches?  Oh God.  In the lip?

I've determined all of her teeth are there.  But what is causing all of the blood? 

Apparently mouth injuries bleed a lot.  The shoulder, and collar of my shirt is saturated in Charlotte's lip blood, all the way through to my bra.

I manage to get Charly and Ruby (less icee) into the car.  She's laid out, paper towels jammed into her mouth.  We're just trying to get the lip to stop bleeding. 

I call Adam.  "LEAVE the OFFICE NOW."  I don't know what to do, and if I do have to take Charlotte to the emergency room?  I don't want to do it with a tantruming toddler demanding her coke icee.

I pull over on the way home because I'm pretty sure Charlotte has gone into shock from blood loss.  She may have just been tired.  It had been a long day, after all, she bit her tongue and made it bleed in jumpbunch.  And it was five o'clock at the end of a long week...or shock, who knows.  I wasn't taking any chances.  I climbed into the backseat of the car and shook her.

Adam made it home about ten minutes after we did.  He saw my shirt.  Charlotte was laying on the sofa, he rushed over to make sure she hadn't passed out.  (An insane amount of blood, I tried to tell you).

But he did not think she needed to go to the hospital.  I wasn't convinced.  I was pretty sure the gash was "gaping".  It stopped bleeding, though, after an hour, and according to the Acute Care nurse, that's the threshold. 

Whew. 

Adam sent me out to get some Ensure, for her evening meal, because surely anything else would be too painful for her too consume. 

Luckily, I also got Zaxby's.  And yes, some cheddar bites.  Because by the time I made it back home, she was ready to chow down.  The girls were also ready to make those chocolate cupcakes I promised for "Fun Friday" but before that, they went frog hunting. 

Eight frogs in the critter catcher, and they're ready to bake.  Cupcake batter everywhere, first batch in the oven.  Mom sighs with relief.  "To the tub!"

At some point, while they're in the tub, I duck out to go pull the cupcakes out of the oven.  When I go  back in to check on the girls ALL EIGHT FROGS ARE IN THE TUB. 

Well, it was fun Friday, so I gave them a couple of minutes. 

Seven survived.  Ruby got really excited at one point and squeezed the guts out of one. 

(Eck.  I know.)

Adam thinks it's cool.

The next day Charlotte had forgotten all about her lip.  We went to a birthday party.  A big, fun birthday party at a reptile center...snakes, frogs, tortoises, taxidermied wildlife.  The girls were thrilled.  AND it was a super-hero birthday party so they also made and wore capes.  Charlotte saw a little boy she thought was very handsome.  She tried to kiss him within the first five minutes. For the rest of the party, everytime I looked over at her, she had him cornered, her busted lip all puckered up, ready for her kiss.  I'm fussing at Charlotte to leave him alone.  His mom thinks it's hilarious and is fussing at her son to at least give Charlotte a hug.  He told his mom he was scared.  Charlotte & Ruby pet all the snakes, and an alligator...the little boy was afraid to do that too...

On the way home I told Charlotte that kisses were very special, to be shared only when you really wanted to get to know somebody better and that the boy should try to get the kisses and the girl should be the one saying 'not right now'.  Charlotte thought that was silly.  That little boy was very handsome and once he kissed her, he would fall in love with her forever.  

Charlotte got really excited about the alligator at the party.  So excited she tackled her sister on the stage.  Both my girls had balloons, grins and busted lips leaving the frog farm.

Sunday the circus came to Hampton.  Mom & dad got front row seats and picked the girls up.  Charlotte got to ride a camel.  They both got to ride ponies.  Ruby was sweet and cute and didn't have a single tantrum.  Obviously, she's ready for an over-night trip.