The nightmares are on me

Last night when I was putting Jackson to bed, he slipped and fell and hit his forehead on the floor. Nothing serious, but Michelle got a freezer pack, wrapped it in a towel, and had Jackson hold it on his head for a couple minutes while he calmed down.

Jackson asked why he had to keep the towel around the ice pack instead of putting it directly on his skin, which led to this unfortunate discussion:

Me: That is much too cold to put on your head without the towel.

Jackson (trying it): It doesn't feel too cold.

Me: Buddy, if you keep it on like that for too long, your boo boo will get worse.

Jackson: What will happen?

Me: If it gets too cold, it will start to turn blue and it will hurt very very much.

Jackson: What happens if my skin turns blue?

Me: Then we'd have to go to the doctor so she could make it better.

Jackson: How will the doctor make it better?

Me: Well, if your skin is blue for too long, the only way the doctor can fix it is by taking some healthy skin from your back and putting in on the boo boo.

Jackson (becoming hysterical): You mean the doctor is going to take skin off my back and put it on my head?

It is at this point that I realized I had fallen into the trap of trying to answer every "Why?" of a three-year old instead of just saying "Because Daddy says so."

So if you hear screams in the middle of the night coming from the second floor, it's just an imaginary skin graft operation.