This empty can.......

looks innocent, doesn't it?

Or at very least, harmless.

But that is not the truth.

When provoked.....

This can is

vicious

savage

Bloodthirsty even.

Yesterday around noon

Ezra was making his way around the house

and found himself

inspecting the bag of recycling in the kitchen

when he had a very unfortunate encounter

with this particular can.

What started as a simple inspection

of the can and its still attached lid

ended with a panicky toddler screaming in pain.

I ran to his aide and found Ezra's tiny inquisitive finger

had become stuck between the sharp lid and the side of the can

I tried my best to get it out without cutting him

but in the midst of his frantic flailing,

Ezra violently pulled his finger out

and the can fought back

by cutting deep into his finger.

There was blood and there was fierce wailing.

I did my best to not lose my wits or pass out.

As soon as I took a good look at it

I knew we were headed for stitches.

Surprisingly enough,

in my 15+ years of mothering

none of the fab five have ever needed stitches

(don't get me wrong,

we have had our fair share

of traumatic childhood injuries and trips to the ER

just not for stitches).

A quick(and flustered) call to the doctor's office

and Ezra and I were on our way to visit our pediatrician.

By the time we got there

Ezra,

who had cried for almost an hour straight at this point,

calmed down and was his normal and delightful self

(as long as you ignored the part where his clothes were covered in blood

and his hand was wrapped in a bloody dish towel).

The doctor took one look at the finger

and agreed that stitches were in order.

They moved us to another room

and had the nurse apply a numbing gel to his finger.

After a while they came back

and strapped Ezra down onto a papoose board(i.e. baby torture device).

Before Ezra could protest, the nurse handed me a shiny red lollipop.

I quickly offered the candy to Ezra.

Once the sweet sugary treat hit his lips

he really had no problem with being strapped down

(or the fact that he still had an open wound for that matter).

For the next 30 minutes

(while the doctor cleaned, poked and sewed Ezra's little lacerated finger)

Ezra happily sucked on his lollipop

stopping only occasionally to flirt with the pretty nurses

who were taking turns entertaining the boy by talking to him sweetly

and blowing a a colorful pinwheel in front of his face.

When it looked like the lollipop

was not going to last the length of the procedure

I started to panic and a nurse quickly brought two more.

By the end of the process,

Ezra had 3 stitches in his tiny finger,

was all bandaged up

and was onto his third lollipop.

Thanks to the magical powers of candy

and the hypnotizing skills of nurses with pinwheels,

Ezra never cried once during the process of getting the stitches.

Today Ezra seems good as new.

He doesn't even seem to mind the finger being bandaged up.

He has also learned a new word......

"OOOOOOOOOOUCHHHHHH!!"

Which he has been saying over and over today every time I ask to see his finger.

And then he laughs and giggles.

Kids are so tough!