The Favorite Aunt

If that title makes you squirm, sorry, but that’s what I saw last night. I was playing with Violet and Dash, when Jack-Jack calls me to look at him. He was holding his right hand out, and it was literally dripping blood. I have seen a few scrapes with kids before, but not that much blood.

He wasn’t crying or freaking out, and there was a bandage already on the hand, so I was confused as to how it had happened. And I froze for a second. I didn’t know what to do first. Court, my brother-in-law, was nearby, and I managed to say, “Hey, come here. Jack-Jack’s hand is dripping with blood.”

It turns out that Jack-Jack had gotten a nasty cut over the Christmas holidays while visiting Court’s family back east. Somehow he opened that back up. Court carried him off to clean up the cut and rebandage it.

Later, Uncle Bob said “Did you lift up his arm over his head?” I said no, that I didn’t know what to do right away. And I admitted my embarrassing secret: I hesitated because I was afraid of getting blood on myself. Bob said, “You’re coming with me to a first aid course at the Red Cross.” Bob is required to attend these because he runs a foster home for developmentally-disabled adults.

I guess I need to add “Learn First Aid” to my 2008 Aunt Resolutions.