Xiaolin becomes a unicorn

We arrive at the prayer for my grandparents as they are into the first glorious mystery and do the silent head nod hellos around the room. A tiny blur runs past. The blur is my cousin's kid I've dubbed, Xiaolin, due to his round bald head.

I look a bit closer and Xiaolin has this huge dark knot on his forehead protruding like a unicorn's horn. Xiaolin doesn't seem to mind the big bruise and just keeps running in and out of the room to the stairs where his grandpa sits into the room to where his dad is sitting near the altar. A few family members try to slow him down by putting their hands or legs in the way, but there's no stopping him. My uncle blocks him by laying his legs in his path. Xiaolin looks at the legs then my uncle, back to the legs and bends over, hoping to shove his big head in between the two legs.

I think, this boy has no fear, dives in head first. Most other kids might try to climb over the block or maybe try to move the legs out of the way, but not him, he's going to linebacker his way through.

After the end of the prayer, my cousin proceeds to tell the story for the hundredth time: Xiaolin was climbing something or other and fell and did a faceplant into the cabinet. They then rushed him to the Emergency where the doctor declared what we all already knew, the boy's got a hard head. Once the initial pain wore off, Xiaolin proceeded to continue with his running rambunctious ways already having forgot the trauma of a few hours before. Xiaolin has a short short memory.

Then again, it's almost to be expected. Several months ago, Xiaolin wanted to get through a gate or railing. The kid apparently thinks he's plasticman or the mom from the Incredibles, because he squished his head through the railing then couldn't pull his head back out. After half a container of vegetable oil, they managed to squeeze his head back out of the railing.

If my cousin didn't shave his head, you'd probably notice how he was quickly accumulating white hairs for this kid. The Fiance looks at Xiaolin and comments, "That's just your cousin's genetics there." Which is true, there are several bald patches on my cousin's head from the number of times he banged himself up smashing and falling onto things. It's a miracle my cousin got this far through life.

My cousin is seriously thinking about getting the boy some kind of protective helmet to wear, but that may just encourage the behavior. Or else, he'll figure out that the hard helmet is a better battering ram than his own head. Sigh. I tell my cousin, well, you have the makings of an excellent football linebacker.