Yesterday started off as an atypical day, anyway. I had summer curriculum hours for planning for the Anti-Bullying committee at school. Luke was going to spend the morning at Brady's house. He was sooo excited! Sarah came to pick Luke up & they were headed to Bremen for Brady's first tennis lesson. Luke and Hannah would hang out throughout the lesson, and share beef jerky. After the lesson, they would stop by Brady's grandparents' farm to play and hang out with Trooper, their eight-year-old chocolate lab.

Back in Goshen, I'm with the team, talking about what worked last year & what we'll do differently next year to prevent bullying in our school. Around 10:15 or so, my phone rings. It was Sarah. She said that they had just gotten to her parents and Trooper had bitten Luke on the mouth. I didn't think much about it; thinking it was more of a scratch than anything. Then she said, "We're heading to the ER. Can you meet us there?" Wait, ER? As in EMERGENCY ROOM??? He's never been to the ER before!

So I hang up, tell the committee that I needed to go because Luke had been bitten by a dog and I had to meet them at the ER. They were so good about it; telling me to just leave my things and they'd take care of them. Oh, and I had to get directions because I've only been to that hospital twice in the past 25 years.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally get to the emergency room. Sarah and Luke had just checked in and were on their way into a triage room. I walk in and the receptionist took me straight there. When I got in the room, Luke was doing soooo good!!! He was sitting on Sarah's lap, holding an ice bag up against his mouth. He wasn't crying; he wasn't freaking out. Just sitting there.

And that's how he was throughout nearly the entire procedure. I say nearly because, understandably, the whole stitches thing wasn't so fun for him. He only needed three, but because of the location of the dog bite (on his upper lip, and just above), the doctor couldn't use the numbing solution they normally like to use on kids. He had to get the numbing injection. My poor little guy! The doctor had this huge, long needle (that fortunately, Luke didn't see!) and he had to poke his little lip 5-6 times and inject some stinging solution into his lip. Before the doctor started, he said Luke could scream, cry, do whatever, except move. Apparently with most four year olds, they have to papoose them, or wrap them tightly so they couldn't move. The doctor said that Luke was doing so well with the whole situation, that he didn't think he needed to be papoosed. And he was right. Even through those awful injections, he did awesome. He was even trying not to cry or scream. I told him he was allowed to scream, so he let out the most pathetic screams ever. It made me so sad!!!

When we finally got out of the ER, we had to go to Target to fill his prescription. When we were there, I told him he did so well he could pick out one toy or movie. After we scanned the entire store for the perfect thing, he finally decided on a Bubble Grill, which he'd wanted forever! He had to have it put together as soon as we got home and he played with it for some time. It's actually pretty cool!

I think the worst part for Luke was having a numb lip. It seems like as soon as the numbness wore off, he was totally fine. He didn't need Tylenol. He said it didn't hurt when I cleaned it and put neosporin on it. My little guy is soooooo tough!!! Way to go Lukers!