I could drive to St. John's ER in my sleep.

So here's the full story on Kittyboy's LATEST trip to the ER.
About six-thirty last night, I was working towards bedtime (normally about seven), he brought me a videotape, and I told him no, take it back, as I headed towards his room. Shortly after, there was crying in the living room - I came in and he had bumped his head. I don't know how, and can only assume on what - the coffee table. He managed to find the one corner not covered by two afghans, is my theory. When he is paying attention, he is a mountain goat - when not, he can trip over a carpet. And there was nothing but carpet over which he could trip!!!! Gah!
While changing his diaper, I watched a lump grow on his temple, the size of my thumb and about half an inch thick. Oooh drat. That was more impressive, thickness-wise, than I'd seen before, and it was purple. Checked eyes, watched him walk, he was all symmetrical and normal and eyes tracking together and all, and talking normally. I know not to give Tylenol and to take him in if he had a headache, but wasn't sure if I should let him sleep, so I called the nurse. The nurse asked me about all the stuff I had checked, eyes, walking, speech, told me not to give Tylenol, he could go to sleep but had to be woken up every four hours. And call back if he seemed to have a headache. So I put him down for the night about seven. Half an hour later, back up crying. He wanted me in bed, so I laid down with him, he laid quietly but wasn't inclined to sleep. So after twenty minutes or so, I told him Mommy would go nightnight in her own bed, and he would go nightnight in his bed, tucked him in again and left. About quarter after 8, he was crying again, so we rocked some more. After ten minutes or so of him being perfectly content to JUST rock (no reading or anything, just sitting still and quiet which is Not Him), I called the nurse back and said there was SOMETHING upsetting him, maybe a headache that he didn't mind when he was distracted but was too much for him to sleep, and she asked if he would normally be asleep by then, and I said OH yes. Jack-in-the-box is not typical for him when he's in his own bed with his music and his Ock (dragon) or Ted Bear or someone tucked in with him and the light off and everything. Yeah, something's not right. She said go to the ER - any headache lingering after head injury should be checked out. So to the ER we went, after putting a diaper in my purse and grabbing Ted Bear and Ock and my ipod. Been here, done this, can you tell?
By the time Husband got there after work, we'd been there forty five minutes, his vitals had been taken and he was checked in, but it was going to be a looong wait for a doctor. At check-in, they'd said three hours - people were in the hallway, it LOOKED like three hours. This was not a good night for an ER trip. He had no new symptoms, other than being very, very tired. Bump was still there, but nothing was worse, he was still acting fine. He told his daddy in detail all about it - "Me bonk! Me dock-tor!" We asked the nurse who took his vitals, after explaining the situation, "Is it okay if we go home and just follow the plan of waking every four hours, or does he HAVE to be seen now because he's been checked in?" and she said from how he was acting, we SHOULD be fine waking him every four hours, but come back immediately if he did anything odd or if anything changed, and we said yes, of course, and went home. Every four hours during the night - he didn't care for being woken up, but hey, if you'd pay more attention and not trip over invisible bumps and hit your head, you wouldn't have to be woken up and made to talk and walk throughout the night. That's the lesson to learn here, kiddo.
The boy is a hassle, have you noticed? Oh, and as soon as we got out of the car in the parking garage - "Dock-tor! Dock-tor! Me dock-tor!" He knows what the parking garage of St. John's means. Oh, and he helpfully told the nurse when we were checking in, "Me bonk!" and pointed to his head. "Yup, that would be why we are here. He bonk."
My mother was saying, I have had EXPERIENCE with these things! She said in an enthused-Mommy voice, because she said I sounded like the weary, veteran mother of several - all this from one toddler! Isn't that efficient of him, to give me all this experience just by his little lonesome in the first two and a half years of life?? Dryly, sounding less than thrilled, "Yes Mother. He's very efficient." I guess it's useful being able to triage your toddler, how many first time moms do that? After multiple doctor or ER visits for head bonks, or time on the phone with nurses answering questions, I know what they look for and ask first. Pupils, same size, symmetrical, eyes tracking together, both sides of body moving symmetrically, speech normal and not hunting for words he knows. All of the above, yep - headache, yeeeah, I'd guess that, which is what sends you to the ER unfortunately in spite of all the rest, just to be safe.