today was... interesting
I babysit the neighbor’s kids and today was their anniversary, so they asked me to sit again but they weren’t sure when they’d be leaving. In the afternoon, I had an early dinner, I played around online, and waited for them to call. Around sixish my dad came over with the phone and said they were ready for me next door, so I started getting ready. Only a few minutes later, the kids’ dad appeared at the door and came inside. The kids follow shortly and so did their mom.
I was very confused because I always go over there to watch them. It’s right next door and all their toys are there. So I asked their mom if she wanted me to keep them here, to which she replied, “Oh, sure, if you like - maybe you can bring some of their toys over.” So I was even more confused.
Then their six-year-old said to me, “We came here because your dad cut himself,” which I didn’t understand at ALL because they were supposed to be with me so their parents could go out. And because I’d just seen my dad literally five minutes ago and he didn’t have any cut. Meanwhile my dog is going nuts because he’s so happy all these people are here but he’s also confused because they aren’t paying attention to him, and people are asking me to take the kids out of the way. But out of the way of what?
So I walked into the kitchen and, lo and behold, the neighbors are there with a first aid kit and are looking for crazy glue because my dad cut himself. He was walking down stairs - I’m actually not sure if they mean the basement stairs or the deck stairs, I hope the former because the latter are so rickety and that would be damn scary - and he tripped. To catch himself, he grabbed the rail and ended up ripping open his palm on a nail that was sticking out of the wood. (This is why I actually think it must be the deck stairs :/ they’re in terrible condition.)
So, basically, my dad hurt himself in the instant after he told me to go to sit the neighbor’s kids, didn’t tell me about getting hurt, called those same neighbors over to help him, and I just ended up all confused with no idea what was going on, and it wasn’t until I finally got the kids and the dog outside that it sank in. Another neighbor came over to help too and took care of the littler child, because she was really getting mixed up in all the chaos and wouldn’t listen to me and only wanted her mom. It was really hard to try to convince her to come out with me while the dog was also being a brat and the older child was running off on her own, so I was full of appreciation. (Note: We have really awesome neighbors.) When I got back from taking the older girl and my dog for a walk, this same neighbor offered to watch both kids for a few minutes (since their parents had gone off for their anniversary date) while I dropped off my dog and checked on my dad.
My mom got home during all the chaos and she apparently threw my dad’s claim that he didn’t need to go to the ER to the wind. Which I totally agreed with. He cut himself on an old nail, tetanus is a definite threat. Dunno how long it’s been since he got a booster, but it never hurts to be safe. Anyway, they went, I took care of the kids until almost 10, and when I got back I found out he got four stitches is his hand. :P Aaah, all the excitement.
My dad’s had a lot of injuries over the years. To name a couple, he has screws in one of his fingers from an accident playing baseball, and his old job involved working with box cutters: one day he was fixing a box cutter and some idiot turned it on while his arm was down its throat. Luckily it didn’t chop into him too deeply. He’s got a scar, but at least it didn’t impair nerve function or anything.
Everything is okay now, but it was sure chaos for a while there. It still boggles my mind that I was literally the last one to know (besides my mom, who wasn’t there) about him getting hurt. The neighbors came over at the exact moment I expected to be going over to watch their kids, and my mind came up with a funny explanation that for some reason they didn’t want us in their house today, and then I was completely flustered by what was really happening. ^^;