On our way home from the beach, Halsey started crying without explanation. Finally, through the tears (the sobs, really) he managed to tell me that his toe hurt. Earlier, he had cut part of his big toe and there was a piece of skin hanging on, which he had just yanked off. There was some minor bleeding, but we all know how much those small injuries hurt. He pleaded with me, "Trina, make it stop hurting. Make it stop." Of course I couldn't, but how do you explain to a three year old that bandaids don't always take away pain? I just looked at him and told him that sometimes, things have to hurt but it never lasts forever. It hurts for awhile and then it goes away. He obviously didn't get the big idea there-- that as people, we have all kinds of hurts that bandaids would never heal. He still had some tears in his eyes, but trusted me. I told him he could put some pressure on it and that eventually it would stop hurting, that it wouldn't be forever.
Several hours later, after naps and dinner and potty break, I had assumed he had forgotten about his toe. He hadn't (this kid never forgets anything). He looked up at me with his big blue eyes all lit up and said, "Trina, it stopped hurting! It didn't stay forever."
It never does.
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