Ouch, Ouch, and Re-Ouch!

Life can be rough sometimes, and (unfortunately) there are no exceptions to that rule for the Pipsqueak. Although she's usually reluctant to go to school on Monday mornings (Dude, more proof she really is related to you!), AJ told me that for the first time Tuesday morning featured a pre-daycare mini-meltdown was far from "mini" in any way.

After waiting for me to finish asking about illness, sickness, pain, infections, and any number of other scary potential causes, AJ explained that when asked what was wrong, my niece replied that she was afraid of what was going to happen to her at school!

My sister then smilingly calmed me down and assured me that no, there really wasn't anything horrible happening and no one was bullying my pipsqueak-sized niece. The problem, it seems, is that she keeps getting hurt!

Thursday: The Pipsqueak comes down the slide on the playground and ever-so-slightly bumps a little girl standing near the bottom. Said little girl takes offense at what she thinks is an unfair bump and... bites Miri.  No skin breakage, no toothmarks, no outward signs of damage, but apparently Grandma, Grandpa, and Mommy heard aaaaalllll about it later that day.

Friday: The Pipsqueak runs left, one of her classmates runs right, the teacher goes to intercept... and gets there a half-second after the little boy's head connects with Miri's mouth. No cuts, no blood, no bruises, but a really sore and slightly swollen lip.

Monday: The Pipsqueak makes it through the day unscathed, only to get so excited when Grandma & Grandpa come to pick her up that she runs to her cubby without watching where she's going, and... Well, the table was unhurt, and there was no lasting damage to my niece, but now she's got a nice bruise just under one eye. (And, we hope, a better understanding of the phrase, "watch where you're going!")

Somehow, I don't remember ever getting hurt at school three days in a row until I was well into my scholastic career, and knowing how sensitive the Pipsqueak is to things that 1) make boo-boos, 2) hurt, and 3) get in the way of her doing whatever she wants to do... well, I can understand why she'd develop a reluctance to return to daycare! Luckily, it's been easy for AJ to convince Miri that going to school is still A Good Thing (and the Pipsqueak's enjoyed herself once there), so I'll just add these to the long list of events that made me say, way back in late 2010, that my niece "is going through life headfirst accompanied by the occasional loud THUNK!"

But I really hope she remembers to watch where she's going...!