Girls! Girls! Girls!

Sometimes I'm just at a loss of words with Harper.  He is smart, stubborn, hilarious, witty, creative, secretly sensitive, confident, independent and oh-so-strong!  He was invited to a bowling birthday party tonight, for his sweet friend, Riley.  He knew he would be the only boy there....and he was totally fine with that.  It definitely didn't stop him from wanting to go celebrate!

The fun began when we attempted to pick out Riley's gift.  I knew Riley to be very girly and figured she might like something from the store, Justice.  The four of us walked in and clearly looked out of place.  As the store clerk came over to help, I explained the situation and she pointed us to some things.  However, Harper found a super cute outfit that we all thought looked like Riley.  As if watching my "boy family" pick out an outfit for an 8 year old girl wasn't funny enough....friends from church just happened to walk in at the exact moment we were joking about the small size, by holding the pink shorts up to Harper.  My friend, Angela, very calmly said, "Kim, you do know that this is going to require an explanation."   

Meanwhile, when Harper and Chris came home from the party, Harper walked in with a limp.  He immediately laid down on the couch, while Chris got an ice pack.  As he helped Harper get situated, they told Warren and me the story.  

Apparently, Chris was busy getting a couple of bowling balls for Harper and the girls at the same time Harper (who had already taken his shoes off) was busy getting his own bowling ball.  Harper dropped his bowling ball on his toe and, because Chris was at the other end of the building looking for bowling balls, he had no idea what happened.  So when he made his way back to Harper, he found him sitting down, by himself, crying hysterically.  After Chris settled him down, super strong Harp decided to "man up" (as his friend Riley tells him) and bowl with his friends.  

After we took his sock off, we found his big toe very much black and blue; I'm quite certain his big toenail is dead.  But I can tell you, had I not seen his toe, I would've had no idea anything was wrong.  Not one peep, not one complaint, not one tear.  In fact, even in his pain, he still kept us in stitches with his jokes, like: 

Q:  What do you call a donkey who doesn't know his name?

A:  Stupid.  

We helped him get a shower and tucked him in to bed...but not before he told me about the rest of the party.  (So, while Harper knew he would be the only boy...what he did not know was that there were going to be 20-ish people girls there.)  The only thing he had to say was "Mom!  I only went to the bathroom two times during the party.  That's all.  But those girls had to go at least five times!  And, they didn't go once by themselves.  At least five of them had to go at the same time....every time!"  Sounds about right!