Monday, March 26, 2012

No Ifs, Ands, or Head Butts - Parenting Plights & Delights


I recently posted this comment on my Facebook page:

"Today a grandmother got headbutted twice by her grandson. Then he grabbed a chunk of skin on her neck and pinched her and spit in her face and laughed his head off. 

"That grandmother is me and it was my six-month-old grandbaby...."


Did you know that a ten-pound baby's headbutt has enough force to break your nose? Yep, it's true. I bet many of you have some good headbutt stories to share!


Punkin was falling asleep at my birthday dinner. 
You'd never guess he can be such a feisty little guy.

I asked my friends if they had any experience in the headbutting department and got some good responses:

Tami Cubillas said: "Oh yeah! Shane headbutted me backwards when he was little and now I have a deviated septum... Not fun nor nice!"
Here's Tami with Shane on his 16th birthday. 
Those head butt days are long gone.

Delores Cervera said: "Lynn, yours and my granddaughter gave us many star-seeing headbutts that brought tears to your eye. And when she'd grab your face with both hands and her mouth open, you didn't know if she wanted to kiss you or bite you...Babies are the most wonderful things that God could ever give you."
Delores and her granddaughter, now two years old. 
(She's my darling granddaughter, too.) 
Little Twinkle Eyes looks perfectly harmless to me!

Ashlee Craig said: "Hawk is like a pin ball machine. He goes side to side trying to knock his brother, sister, dad and I out. He laughs the whole time. At first it was funny but now we all have headaches."
The Craig family
Baby Hawk loves to play head games!

My sister-in-law, Debbie, said: "The hardest thing EVER to watch is when these little ones are doing their 'tummy-time' and headbutt the floor! I have laminate flooring and, of course, use a double layer of comforters but still: so hard to see this happen."

My brother, Jeff, came up with an easy solution: "Just duct tape a pair of socks to their foreheads and let them do their thing." 

I'd like to see that idea put into practice. Not! :)
Debbie with her two grandchildren,
(my great-nephew and great-niece).

So far I've done pretty good dodging Punkin's headbutts. The two he gave me weren't full force. I can't afford to have a tooth knocked out or my jaw broken, so I'm super careful. I learned the hard way years ago when my middle daughter was two and headbutted me. I was lying on the couch and she was standing on the floor in front of me. I was dozing off and then, BAM! It felt like a stick of dynamite ignited on my left eye. 
She had thrown herself backwards (just for fun) and nailed me with the back of her head. I screamed and scared the heck out of her. She ran upstairs and hid in her room while I continued to freak out. In this photo, the black eye is almost gone. It took three days for it to even show up - a deep blue and purple, as I remember. 

The ironic part is that back then I did volunteer work a couple hours a week at a home for battered women. When Sister Clare, the director, saw my black eye, she frowned and asked what happened.

I explained how my two-year-old headbutted me. Sister Clare didn't believe me. I knew she thought my husband was abusive. She questioned me further, and I told her that I sat my daughter on my lap and had my husband take a picture to put in her baby book. Sister believed me at last. 

My daughter is 26 now. My left eye often throbs if I have a sinus headache. It's been extra sensitive ever since that injury. 

Have you ever been on the wrong end of a head butt?

Do you have a parenting or grandparenting memory
or another story you'd like to share? 
If you're not a parent, memories from your own childhood count, too! 

Warning: I might feature your story in a future post. 
(Names can be changed to protect the guilty!)

I'd like to thank all those who have shared their stories. 
These posts wouldn't be the same without your input.

If you don't want to leave a comment but would rather contact me by email, 
here's my address: lynkelwoohoo at yahoo dot com.

22 comments:

Old Kitty said...

OH my!! Oh gosh!! Wow! I'm too gobsmacked (not literally!!LOL!) by all these stories of headbutting and black eyes! Yikes! Take care
x

Bish Denham said...

What a shiner! No head butting stories here. I was a biter.

Lisa said...

Lynn you're a grandmother, that is so wonderful. And your daughter is so adorable, how time flies but memories (of headbutts) will certainly linger.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Wow, now that's a black eye!

Jennette Marie Powell said...

Ow! That picture of you makes my head hurt! I don't remember my daughter head-butting at all. But I remember my little brother doing it all the time! My mom had to get her glasses fixed numerous times because of him.

Sarah Tokeley said...

My little one was an eye-poker. Not sure which is worse!

LynNerdKelley said...

Old Kitty - I love that word, 'gobsmacked.' I'll have to use that in one of my stories!

Bish - Oh yes, biting is another thing parents need to watch out for! That's a tough one, too!

Oceangirl - I love what you said, "how time flies but memories (of headbutts) will certainly linger." So true!

Alex - Yep, that black eye was a doozie! No fun!

Sarah - Eye poking, yikes! I don't even like to get my eyes examined cuz I'm so squeamish about my eyes. I could never wear contacts, so just thinking about eye poking makes me wince!

Jeannette - That's exactly why I take my glasses off when I'm holding Punkin. I just can't afford to have my glasses broken, but better the glasses than a broken nose or another black eye! LOL!

Karen Lange said...

Oh my yes, have had this happen a number of times. No black eyes or anything like that, but wow, those little cuties pack a punch, don't they? Like my sister says, this is why God makes them cute! :)

Emily R. King said...

Hahahahaha! I am right there with you all! I've been whacked in the head so many times I've lost count. No black eyes though. That would be terrible...terribly funny! :D

Coleen Patrick said...

Brings tears and stars to my eyes just remembering! :)

DMS said...

Yikes! I guess parenting can be painful. :) Sadly- I have a clear recollection of being sick when I was 8 and my mom leaned over to check on me- I abruptly lifted my head and hit her in the mouth. I can still hear the sound and her painfilled reaction. Ugh.

~Jess

Theresa Milstein said...

Look at you in those photos--lovely.

Babies and toddlers don't get the cause and effect. Leads to a few painful moments!

In 2009, when my son was nine, I was tucking him into bed. There was a girl he liked, so I teased him about it (mean mom). I guess I riled him up instead of settling him down As I leaned into to kiss him, he lifted his head. His head banged into my eye. There was a sharp pain on the top of my eye socket. I saw stars.

He apologized profusely. I lied, telling him it was fine. After I left the room, I splashed some cold water on my face. in a few painful minutes, I forgot all about it.

The next morning I woke up with a huge shiner. And I had to sub (Imagine all the questions and stares while I ran many gym classes). My son didn't want me to tell anyone he'd done it. I told him I had to tell the truth or I'd look like I was trying to hide something, and they'd think my husband was beating me!

After a couple of days, lavandar eyeshadow hid it pretty well.

Ruth Schiffmann said...

No headbutting tales here, but you sure found a great round up of stories. It's lucky babies are so cute, it makes it hard to be mad at them, even when they're hurting us.

I passed along the Lucky 7 Challenge to you on my blog today.

Susan Fields said...

I can't remember being headbutted when my kids were little, but maybe I've just blocked it out. :)

Author A.O. Peart said...

Ouch! It hurts even reading about all these accidents.
I have been lucky enough not to sustain any injuries from my kids' headbutts. I guess I've always moved my face quickly away from the little head coming at me with all its mind!

catherinemjohnson.com said...

You poor thing, I've never had one that bad. It's funny how they always seem to use their heads, like they know it's the heaviest.

Tamara Narayan said...

The worst are when they jump up and bump your chin--especially if they catch you when your tongue is between your teeth. Ouch!

Anonymous said...

That picture is something else. Ouch! I was thinking about this when I read your post yesterday, I can't think of a good headbutt. But...at the beginning of the year my youngest didn't want to go to bed so she tossed a sofa table at me. Does that count?

It split my foot open and broke my toe. I should have gotten stitches but the hubby wasn't home so I didn't go into the hospital. I was so worn out from being in urgent care the night before for illness. I simply wanted to pass out. We wrapped the foot and I went the next morning. I had to stay off the foot for days!

I graduated slowly to a crutch and so on. Had to go to physical therapy. It was a ton of fun. That's my story.

Anonymous said...

That picture is something else. Ouch! I was thinking about this when I read your post yesterday, I can't think of a good headbutt. But...at the beginning of the year my youngest didn't want to go to bed so she tossed a sofa table at me. Does that count?

It split my foot open and broke my toe. I should have gotten stitches but the hubby wasn't home so I didn't go into the hospital. I was so worn out from being in urgent care the night before for illness. I simply wanted to pass out. We wrapped the foot and I went the next morning. I had to stay off the foot for days!

I graduated slowly to a crutch and so on. Had to go to physical therapy. It was a ton of fun. That's my story.

LynNerdKelley said...

Wow, thank you, everyone, for sharing your experiences with me. I guess parenthood is risky business, isn't it? LOL!

Anonymous said...

Sorry Lynn I missed your post!
I remember having just a shadow under my eye from my son head butting me. We had been playing airplane and his head must have been too heavy for him and BAM!
The time he really got me was when we were stopped at a stop light and we both reached back for something at the same time. He broke off a little piece of cartilage on the side of my nose. I just need him to do it again on the other side to even it out! Hahaha!

Reetta Raitanen said...

What an impressive black eye picture. Thanks for sharing all the warming stories about kids. They're really the best.

My kids haven't luckily given me a black eye - yet ;) But I've bit my tongue painfully many times when my son lifted his head suddenly while I was holding him and his head hit my jaw.