Christmas in Salt Lake City, Part One

This story is old news to everyone by now, but not everyone has seen pictures. For Christmas, we went to Salt Lake City to visit Uncle Sean, Auntie Kirstin, Cousin Wilhelmina, and Cousin Oscar. Felix, as was documented earlier, couldn't wait. The visit, however, was more eventful than even he expected.

On Christmas Eve, we were getting everyone bundled up to go sledding--Felix's first ever sledding experience. It's hard to time these things exactly right with four adults and four kids, and Felix ended up being the first to be suited up. He was waiting patiently by the back door in his snowpants, parka, and snow boots when I looked at him and thought, "He must be burning up."

I was hurrying into my own boots so I could take him out into the yard when he cried out. Marya was first on the scene, and as I looked over her shoulder I saw that he had fallen backward down to the first turn in the basement stairs. Blood was coming out of his mouth. We could tell by his crying and the bleeding that it was pretty bad, so we rushed him into the car--Cosmo stayed with Auntie Kirstin and his cousins--and headed off to a clinic, Felix crying the whole way.

At the clinic they said the wound went through enough layers of tissue that it should be sutured by the trauma docs at the hospital, so we got back in the car and went to the hospital. I've already made this telling far too long, but perhaps the most memorable moment was when one of the doctors passed a thin plastic probe all the way through Felix's lip and said, "Yep, it's through-and-through." He'd bitten right through it.

They put two stitches inside his lip, in the muscle, I think, and three on the front, and left the inside open to drain. The staff were incredibly nice, and gave Felix first a tiny stuffed Chihuahua, whom he dubbed "John Henry the Little Dog" for his bravery (Felix was pretty brave, too), then a large stuffed moose, a fleece blanket with monkeys on it, a stuffed squirrel, and a stocking full of candy. With reinforcement like that, I'm guessing that, next Christmas Eve, Felix will suddenly find himself feeling a little bit clumsy....

Getting the stitches in was pretty rough, but, thanks to Versed, he doesn't seem to remember the bad parts. He enjoyed a nice popsicle before we went home, and then he slept for 4 or 5 hours straight.

Anyway, the photos:









Home from the hospital and feeling relieved.













A day or two later.





















The swelling went down pretty quickly, although he still has a small scar and a bump on his lip.

And then, the day after Christmas, both Felix and Cosmo came down with 104-degree fevers. Fortunately, there was a nurse-in-training in the house. Sean and Kirstin were incredibly helpful and energetic, and Wilhelmina and Oscar were remarkably patient given the number of times they were told to take it easy on their ailing cousins. Obviously we would have had more fun without the accident and sickness, but I can't think of a better home-away-from-home to have been in when it happened.

Even stitches and fever couldn't keep Felix from playing chase with his cousins--but I don't have a picture of that.