Nose Bloodied

So tonight was a church-related Halloween festival, and it was pretty cool. Ming-Na (Ella’s alter-ego that emerges when she dawns her china’men outfit) made an appearance; we were having a blast. She was trancing around, checking things out, having a go in the mix of it; getting into a bit of mischief, but not too much. Just really exploring and watching the other (bigger) kids; soaking up the environment and feeding off the energy. She was too young to really do any of the activities, except for a “sucker grab”.

Anyway, she had just gotten her first “prize” from the “sucker grab” and was running around as fast as I’ve ever seen her. I was about 3 feet from her, taking video. There was a lady walking in full stride that didn’t see her, and she just kicked the crap out of her. Ella went flying and did a massive face-plant on the (concrete) basketball surface; her nose took the brunt of the fall. I don’t really blame the lady; she should have been looking since it was a kid’s carnival, but she was apologetic and obviously felt like crap. The lady even checked up on her (twice) and then fled the scene (out of uncomfortable guilt?).

A little while later, after E calmed down a bit, I noticed blood running from both nostrils and significant facial swelling. One just feels like crap, because I (in a sense) allowed it to happen. It could have been avoided had I been more aware. And that sucks...

UPDATE: Woke up with a black eye. Although she's running around and having fun like there's no tomorrow--so she can't be in too much pain. Court might call an ENT re: cartilaginous nasal structural changes.