Destiny (OR: What Am I Going TO Do With That Child?)

I have come to realise that Toad is just not meant to have a left eye. Or at least, he is not meant to have sight in it.

Oh, it is there...

...and he can see...

For now.

He just got his third VERY black eye. His third oh-so-near-it-makes-me-sick-to-my-stomach-with-fright- near miss. Always THAT eye.

The first was from falling off  the bed when he was ~ 2 years old. He struck his eye on the corner of my bedside table. Left a gash on that bone right under the left eye. The scar - I never thought the scar would go away - for a good 18 or 24 months it was there, still red & glaringly bright under his eye. It is gone now though, just a faint line (all the better to identify him with if he ever gets stolen ;-)

The second was from running through the grandparents house while being chased by his uncle. He mis-judged a corner and rammed right into a table. Unfortunately, he was at the right height for the corner of that table to bang him right in the eye. Fortunately, he was at the height for it to leave a nice gash on the bone right above his eye. Another day, another scar, same eye.

And now, this past weekend, Toad was playing with Mario - rough-housing, like brothers do when they are supposed to be cleaning their rooms. Of course, someone moved too suddenly and guess who fell off the bed, bumping his eye on the way down? That's right: Toad. 

And where does he have another nice gash? On that bone right to the side of his left eye.

Oh my.... 

Really, the could-have-beens twist and turn in my stomach every time I look at him and his yet-again-black-eye.

Its too early to tell if he will be left with another scar. For the time being he looks like he was in a major hockey fight - his two front teeth are also missing (simply a product of his age, thank goodness).

So, we are averaging a black left eye every two years, and I wonder if I should put him in a bubble now, or just accept defeat? At this rate, my prediction is that by the time he is 10 something will actually get him IN the left eye (there are only two spots left after all: the inner corner and smack-in-the-middle-dead-centre). 


Wager, anyone?


_