Scarface

Michael had a surprise for us when he woke this morning, after yet another tough night: a long, red scratch on his left cheek.

Despite my near-constant efforts to keep his nails trimmed, Michael seems always to have some level of very minor self-injury going on. Usually, it's comprised of tiny cuts on the sides of his nose, near his eyes, or inside of his ears. I find it rather baffling, because Abby outgrew her face-clawing tendencies by five months or so, but Michael has kept on, at over 13 months.

It breaks my heart every time I see any broken skin on my perfect little boy, but usually the cuts are very small, and heal up quickly. This one is the worst I've seen, however.

It's not terribly deep, but deep enough that it will eventually develop a pretty thick scab, and rather wide. Also, it's quite red and angry looking. This picture doesn't do it justice, as it's a bit washed-out from the pop-up flash.

And yes, that's a girl's onesie that Michael is wearing. That's just the kind of day that I've had- he was a mess after lunch, and the closest baby item I had on hand was an old onesie of Abby's that got mixed into one of my laundry baskets, still un-emptied in the nearby master bedroom. Hey, it's not like Michael cares, right?

"Actually, Mom, I think pink flowers are pretty cool."

I was a tad concerned that Abby might have an opinion, though. Some months ago, I put that very same onesie on Michael, for similar reasons. Abby, who had worn it recently enough to remember that it was hers, threw a fit of impressive proportions, and I quickly changed him out of it to spare my ears. It seems that now, either enough time has passed that she has forgotten about her previous ownership, or she has altogether ceased to care.

Like me, however, she's not too pleased with Michael's new facial feature. All day long, she's been requesting, "Wanna take off Michael's scratch on his face." A couple of times, she's reached out to peel it off, as though it were a sticker.

Tom jokes that it makes Michael look like a "tough guy," but it just makes me sad.

He looks pathetic enough lately, with his runny nose, icky cough, and tired eyes (between the teething and the cough, he's been up several times a night for the last week).

See? There he goes again. I guess he's my sicklier baby. Abby's had coughs before, but never this productive, and never for this long.

We've got a humidifier running in his room at night, now, but I wish that there were more I could do.

My poor, tired, beautiful, scratched-up boy.

I really hope that doesn't scar. :(

By the way, he did get yet another manicure this evening. His nails were already pretty short, but somehow, inexplicably sharp. If only he'd keep his little dagger claws off of his face.