If you are asked about the question what scar do you have, you would be probably reminded of some really dumb story behind it. When I was in grade two I poked my hand with a pencil to see how sharp it was, and then I had a small black mark in my left hand. It has faded over the years. But there is still a light grey mark I'm afraid. Nicole also got a bloody lesson of playing with a pencil sharpener yesterday. I’m afraid there would be a scar on her forefinger tip, in her left hand.

She likes painting. Thus I bought lots of colored pencils and crayons for her (suitable for 0-3 years old). But they need sharpening. Later we chose a pencil sharpener (not for 0-3 years old) together in the store. It is a pocket sized, razor blade type that collects the shavings in the round green plastic housing with lovely painting of owls and flowers on it. One thing to be noticed: No matter how lovely it looks like, it is not safe for toddlers under 3 years old. I showed her how did this pencil sharpener work by spinning the pencil around making continuous contact with the razor blade. She learned fast and then she did it by herself. It seemed that she loves the "schrick, schrick " sound. The process was with my accompanying and was under my supervision. Nothing serious happened.

But there was an accident happened yesterday afternoon. I woke up her from the afternoon nap and dressed her. She insisted playing on the bed for a while then I left the room to fetch her shoes. It was just horrible and incredible seeing the blood all over her face when I was back. I asked her what happened and why she was bleeding, but there was no answer. She looked so calm, but in nervousness. I thought the blood came from her nose. But when I quickly wiped off the blood with the facial tissue, I found it was not. When I did this, she embraced me with her arms tightly. What on earth did the blood come from? She didn’t fall. I examined all over her, found nothing. Then I noticed a small bloodstain on the bedcloth. I touched and smelled, it was fresh. I loosen her up and pulled her down sitting on my knees, and I saw the bleeding finger. It was bleeding heavily. I asked her to lift up her finger over her head, while I pressed a tissue paper on it to stop the flow, but it’s hard. I carried her and rushed to the wash room, held her finger under the running water to wash and flush out dirt. I could see it was not a big cut, but it should be a deep one because the bleeding got faster under the water flow. I pressed another tissue on her finger, and changed two more, then I had time to find a stick plaster to apply it to her finger. Finally the bleeding was stopped. Later on I had a look at the clock. The whole process took around ten minutes, but as to me, it felt like a century long. I felt that I was totally exhausted after escaping from a silent world where the only sound I could hear is the “peng-peng” of my heartbeats.

I was still wondering what hurt her finger. Was there a sewing needle hidden in the bed? I put her on the sofa aisde and asked her to stay there, lifting her finger up. She followed my instructions cooperatively. Then I searched over the bed. Finally I saw the pencil sharpener beside a pillow. “There it is”, I said to myself when it caught my eyes. There was blood inside on the blade. I could imagine that the girl spinned her finger inside it as she did with a pencil. Who knows how did she get it from the high cupboard, and how did it appear on her bed! I lost my words realizing what happened.

Then the following was simple. I called her caregiver asking for a leave in the afternoon. Then I called her doctor telling what happened just right now and made an appointment to have a checkup. When her doctor checked her finger in the late afternoon, I found there are actually five cuts, among which four are surfacial and one is deep. The doctor helped apply an antiseptic solution to the cuts and apply a sterile plaster to the area. Asking me to be alert for signs of possible infection such as swelling, reddening of surrounding area, and oozing of pus from the wound in the next one or two days, he reassured me that it would be Ok because her tetanus immunization was up to date.

It is also a lesson for me. On one hand, she is growing up every day to become a separate individual, knowing more and more about the world. But on the other, she doesn’t know what she knows is only a very small portion, while she wants to explore the world with her innocent courage. She is mostly free and spontaneous, few rules or regulations. We adults know that cause and effect are important concepts to understand when talking about accidents. It is also essential for kids to understand. I told Nicole, “See, if you spin your finger in the pencil sharpener, then your finger would be cut and bleeding. And it really hurts, right?”

The original blog is: http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-309597-26072.html