As a small child I can remember wondering how I'd ever be able to wear skirts / stockings as an adult because everyone would see my black and blues / bruises. I simply didn't know how women did it! I wasn't (particularly) clumsy, but I was a kid - I was active! I climbed trees (did I ever? I'd climb so high, my Dad would have to talk me down. Hmm... active, but maybe not the smartest kid...), I played sports (badly) and I just played. It was a good day if I only had a scrape or bruise or two.
Hmm... now that I think of it, I did fall down some as well. There was one particular spot. It seemed that nearly every week walking to church one spring I fell on the SAME spot of sidewalk where a tree was pushing up the path. It was so frequent that as I'd run ahead my parents would remind me - remember the uneven spot is coming up. Don't fall! I'd yell back - I know! Afterall, I walked to school this way every day (and for some reason, never fell then - just every Sunday morning) and I'd fallen there before. And yet, a few minutes later, I'd be turning around to run back to my parents with torn tights and bloody knees. As a parent now, I imagine their sighs as I'd done it yet AGAIN. (By the way, sadly, no, this was not a phase I grew out of. It wasn't even solved by my parents choosing to drive the block and half to church as we often did anyway. It was solved by the sidewalk getting fixed. My Grandpa was a councilman and he moved that particular spot up on the priority list - cause it was clearly a safety hazzard!)
Anyway, eventually I *did* in fact grow up (well, mostly) and as I got to the age of skirts and stockings, it seemed that I magically didn't seem to have so many scrapes and bruises. I wasn't playing sports anymore (turns out people who fall down all the time on the same spot of sidewalk aren't necessarily athletic). I probably wasn't climbing so many trees. And the sidewalk had long since been fixed. So it turned out I could wear a skirt without violent bruises shouting out to the world.
Fast forward to today. I look down at my daughter's learning to walk legs and I've noticed that she seems to have a similar pattern of bruises to what I remember - faded black and blues and little scrapes adorning her chubby little legs. But you know, you might not even notice. The reason? I am covered with bruises again! I don't know what it is! There are at least 5 on my legs today - 2 or 3 reasonably faded ones on my left knee and another (also, mercifully faded) on my right and then a bunch of random (not really faded) ones higher up my legs! It's gotten to the point where, as the weather gets nicer and I'm wearing shorts, my husband seems to comment daily - dude, where did you get that one?! Man, that thing is huge! People are going to think I hit you!
Apparently he was at the park yesterday and happened to notice a few other mothers my age there with small children and said - Ok, it turns out they all have these huge bruises on their legs too. That made me feel a little better as my husband does not seem to be beat up the way I am. I thought maybe she just didn't like me... ;)
What about you? Do your kids practice their baby jujitsu on you? Do you bear "the marks" of motherhood (and here I thought it was just stretch marks and cellulite)?
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I always find what I call mystery bruises on my legs. I'm not sure what I bumped into hard enough to cause the mark but there it is. Maybe my kids are to blame for some of them.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, I am always one for mystery bruises. My husband makes the same comments as yours! I know that I get more now because I bump into things as I am paying more attention to SP than to where I'm going! He's got the toddler black and blues, too, so we're just a matching pair right now.
ReplyDeleteThis post is awesome.
ReplyDeleteYou just brought some memories rushing back to me.
There is a restaurant here with a huuuge tree stump in the grass near the parking lot. The stump WAS a huge tree about 15-ish years ago. I climbed up the massive tree while my parents were eating dinner. (I was supposed to be in the bathroom.) Then I realized how freaking high I was, so I just stayed up there. Yelling. Someone saw me in the parking lot and found my parents inside. My dad had to climb the tree to get me down. Then, the tree disappeared. Sometimes it's nice having parents who are friends with the couple who own little local places...free mozzarella sticks! But sometimes they cut down your tree... :p
And. There is nothing quite like wearing white tights that stick to scabby knees! OMG.
I bruise easily, am a walking disaster and have a biting baby. My legs are a mess.
I have some whoppers on my calves, pretty much constantly. I used to tell The Bottomless Pit to STFU when he would whine about looking like a girl-beater. Then The Cute started bumping into stuff and I'd find myself feeling nervous at the Pediatrician's office.