Bring your kid to work day

So my husband works in the Emergency Room.

I am no stranger to Emergency Rooms... having visited at least four different ones myself, multiple times. (We have a special relationship, the ER and I....) Some might find it to be funny that I married an emergency Physician after the doctor of my childhood joked that I single-handedly paid for the ER in our small town. It's ok, though. I have a thick skin.
I've been a patient enough times to know how it rolls and not be too afraid of the process. I have, however, always dreaded the day when we would have to go see Dad at work. (In my head it was never a matter of 'if' but of 'when')
Turns out that day was today.

Ah... Saturday morning. Specifically this Saturday morning. Grapes missed skating because she was up all night with a fever and aching ear. We all slept in (until 7 o'clock, people!!) and went about our lazy morning. (Lazy being Mom-code for whining kids, erupting breakfast cereal boxes, battles of the toy-turned-weapons, and then finally a settling down for coloring time)
Pencil walked over to me doing the dishes to ask for a dwinkey. I filled his cup and sent him back to his colors. I returned to my dishes and then heard a bonk. I will never know what exactly happened. He may have tried to climb the chair while still holding his sippy. He may have slipped on a wet spot. He may have chosen to dive face first from the highest height available at that moment.... But I looked up to see him huddled on the tile near the kitchen table, crying.

I picked him up to see a mouth full of blood. Now, I'm not a wimpy blood seer. We've had our fair share of bitten tongues at our house. But when I wiped his chin there was a cut on the outside of his lip too-- and it gaped open enough to actually turn my stomach. So I called Dad and we jumped in the car.

I tried calling 5 friends, but no one answered their phone, so the big kids came with me to visit Dad at work.

Pencil was really good, and held very still for the nurse and doctors who came to see us. (Dad met us at the door and popped in multiple times to make sure we were ok.) One of the residents who works with Dad (who was a family practice doctor before he decided to re-do residency to become Emergency certified) took care of my monkey. He didn't have to do stitches, just some medical grade super glue.

You can sort-of see the blood smears on his chin.

Color crayons in the purse- divine intervention.
The nurse gave us a pile of paper and these two were angels the whole time.

Of course there was a glove-hand balloon to help pass the waiting minutes.

Everyone is fine and as an Emergency visit goes it was quite tame. That isn't to say my heart didn't drop to my feet and then pound the whole time I was driving and unable to see Pencil's face (but still able to hear him cry). BUT we survived.

and we're all the more experienced and ready for next time....
Because it's not IF but WHEN.