The Problem With Boo Boos

There are 4 boys in my house.  With this many boys boo boos are bound to happen. 

The favorite activity is wrestling.  Even Baby wants to get in on the party.  You should see him attack his teddy bear.  The boys maul and make growling noises, flip and twist.  Overall they remind me of a set of young bear cubs.  Sometimes they get too rough and I have to stop the activity.

What's next on the list?  They go to stairs leaping.  You know that game right?  You go to the highest step you think you can handle and you jump for it while the rest of the gang cheers you on.  This sort of thing is why the males of our species are almost always the recipient of Darwin Awards.  I have literally caught a child mid-air as he attempts to leap from the top.  Mean Mommy says, "No way guys, someone is going to get hurt."

When they are in this rowdy mood the game has to involve contact.  My 8 year old is full of GREAT ideas.  "Hey!  I know, let's play swords!"  Usually I stop this one before it even starts, but... not always.  Someone is going to get whacked unintentionally in this game.  It's almost always Tot.  Poor Tot, he thinks he can hang with the big dogs, but he can't.  Don't tell him I said that.

When they are desperate they dance.  It looks like a mosh pit gone horribly wrong.  Now even Baby is bouncing his legs and flinging his arms around with all his might.  Why, with boys, is dancing a full contact sport?  The sight is rather hilarious.  In some slightly open portion of the room there is Liv, spinning in graceful circles, arms extended, one leg lifted gracefully and long hair streaming behind her.  In another area there are 4 boys all trying to do the coolest moves on the same small piece of real estate.  "Watch Mom! Hey! Watch Mom!  Check this out!"

All of these activities lead to boo boos, and then as a foster parent I am required to report and explain.  I don't know if Tot is my accident prone child, or if its just because he's two, but thinks he's eight.  Tot is the one that gets the most boo boos.  He just reported in for some comforting because of a slightly bloody lip.  Now I have to report it again.  He recently got, a still visible, scratch on the eye  when our big golden walked right over him when Tot fell during play. We love our doggy, but he is kind of a big dummy.  Tot got a little scratch just above his lip somehow during sledding.  Now we've got the lip.

In nice weather we go outside and they run off the craziness.  We can't right now and occasionally I am so tired of noisy, jumping, bumping, breaking boys that I won't let them do ANY of it.  They get so forlorn.  Cy speaks for the crew, "You mean we can't do anything?!"  They have rooms full of activities, but they are so hard to remember when all your little boy body wants to do is bash something.  

These boo boos have been occurring regularly for the past year.  I guess I only worry because if Caseworker wanted to she could make a big stink.  They are a safe as they are going to get in this house.  I can't let them play in bubble wrap.  It's noisy.