Last week, in trying to keep her out of his “lab,” Tage shut his bedroom door on Petra’s finger and her nail was ripped almost completely off (including the part that goes under the skin). Because it was still attached at one corner, we just put it gently back over the nail bed and secured it with a band-aid so it wouldn’t snag on anything. After a couple of days I took off the band-aid to check it out. It’s pretty crusty and the nail is still attached, though it’s going black underneath and will surely fall off soon. It looks nasty, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering her, and she’s retained her usual good humor.

This smashed-finger business seems to be turning into a bit of a family tradition — when Tage was not much older than Petra is now, Lydia closed his little finger in the downstairs bathroom door and did quite a number on it. I don’t remember having any of these kinds of accidents when I was a kid, so it must come from Olof’s side. After all, he once slammed his sister’s finger in the door so hard that she lost a fingertip. His genes are clearly to blame.