What's a bruise or two?

Once you have a child you know that at around the time he/she will start walking that there will be bruises, many bruises to come from lack of balance and what looks like an 14month old wobbling around in a drunken stooper. After all, accidents do happen.

So this past Sunday Dalip and I decided to take Surya to this really cool farm right around the corner from my mom's house. The farm is hosting an autumn festival that will last until the end of October. They had all kinds of activities for the kiddos, haunted houses, pony and camel rides, sesame street, Disney, charlie brown life size wooden characters up everywhere for photo ops, jungle gyms, the works. Surya of course was in heaven when we entered and it showed. Dalip and I discovered that Surya in fact has a camera smile she puts on now. This new smile is demonstrated in the first picture above. Surya went on, at the behest of Dalip and I, to take MANY more pictures next to anything that seemed evenly remotely cute and would create a memorable moment on film (or memory card in this case). Needless to say, we were caught up in the novelty and excitement of this incredibly kid friendly, Surya will never want to leave, place.

As we swerved through the pumpkin patches, stopped at a kiosk to buy a bag of fresh kettle corn, we made our way to a jungle gym they had set up for little kids. Surya loved going down the slide. She slid down all by herself only to land on her bum half a dozen times, which she was fine with (read as no tears and a readiness to get back on the slide again). So, of course, being a mom and having an overwhelming need to document yet another once in a lifetime moment, I broke out the camera to video her going down the slide yet again. Everything started out okay as we sat her at the top of the slide and counted to three for her to come down. At the count of three Surya willed herself forward and down the slide. At the very last second the rubber sole of her shoe caught on the plastic of the slide and propelled her forward face first into the ground. Of course the tears started flowing, the crying pierced the air and the surrounding parents stares were heavily upon us as we tried to console/distract Surya from the obvious pain of the bump over her right eye. All the while the camera is still recording. So low and behold we now have a video of this tragic event.

In case any of you are wondering, Surya is absolutely fine. She had a small scratch over her eye that is now gone and the other bruise (that's another story all together) is almost gone as well. So she is in tip top shape. I have the pictures from the rest of the day's events at the farm to prove it! :)

My point in telling this story, other than to relieve the shame of watching my daughter plow face first into the ground by talking about it, is that while the guilt stays on in me for allowing such a thing to happen to my baby, Surya was over it as soon as she took one look at the camels. Of course we need to learn from our mistakes, in some ways I think that's why guilt exists, but perhaps I need to take a page from Surya's book and say, "it happens", dust off the booboo and move on to the next great adventure without any guilt or reservation (but with a bit more vigilence) so that I do not impart my fear or trepidation onto her and she is allowed to explore freely and be the super Surya we all know she is.