Sunday, January 09, 2005

On the Rocks

Today we the family went to the Jardin D'Acclimatation because my son had a birthday party there this afternoon. When we dropped my son off the hosts told me that they would bring him back home. They were going to bring my son and their birthday boy around the park after the party to go on a couple of amusement rides. I left with my daughter and husband to walk around the park.

My daughter had a friend (who's sister was at the party) she was playing with. They climbed some stone stairs behind some bushes. My husband was walking over there to keep an eye on the girls when I hear the scream. My husband starts running over and it begins to dawn on me that it's my daughter (not my son, who screams like that once a week, at least) and she never screams when she gets hurt unless it's serious. She comes out from the bush area with blood pouring from her face. It's such a jarring site... to see your child covered in blood -- on the face, on the shirt, on the hands.... She is still screaming and I put her on my lap and try to comfort her while trying to see where the blood is coming from. She takes a napkin and holds it to her mouth and is yelling that she is in pain.

Even though we are at the Jardin, a children's amusement park, I don't know where we can go for help. There is no obvious place or sign. My husband said "we need ice! " There is a cafe about 60 feet away and he runs over there.

Have I ever mentioned that ice is one of those cultural differences between the US and France? People in the US love ice in their drinks. People in France rarely use ice in their drinks. Heck, I've found that the French kids don't even like their drinks too cold. I've been accused by French parents that I keep my refrigerator too cold. One woman put the yogurt from my refrigerator under tap water because it was too cold for her child. I digress..

Anyway my husband asks the cafe restaurant people if they have ice. "Non." Can you imagine? But I wasn't surprised. So he had to buy an ice cream popsicle. My daughter put the popsicle on her lip, which received the brunt of the damage. She kept that popsicle, covered, on her lip for a long time. I was glad we didn't need to wait to pick up my son from the party! It's interesting how things work out.

In the midst of this my friend produced a map and it turns out there is a first aid center so we went to have someone look at the cut. We walked into the building -- bleeding, screaming child in tow -- and asked for directions to first aid. The man says its here and abruptly hands over a simple first aid kit. We asked if there was someone to look at the cut and he says "I'll call the firemen (first response)." After deciding that might be a little overkill, we managed to pry my daughter's hands away from her face (after assuring her that no doctors were going to give her a shot) and it looked like she put a tooth through her lip, but we decided she didn't need stitches and was ultimately ok. No teeth moved, thank goodness. After we calmed her down, the man turned very nice and even drew her a little picture of a bunny with a bandage on. We're still amazed that the place designated as first aid is at one secluded end of a big park and is equipped with no trained personnel and essentially offers just bandages and anti-biotic cream. Of course they probably don't have that in the US anymore for fear of liability laws ...

My daughter had some medicine and seems to be on the road to recovery. She's got the fattest lip! Hopefully the swelling will be gone by the morning.

-- said Auntie M in Paris
10:10 PM

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