A Bloody Mess

So the other day Max and I were playing and he said something to the effect of "Don't get my nose!" which, as every mother knows is the tell-tale sign that he wanted me to do just that. Okay fun, an I'm-gonna-get-your nose game. No problem. Well, in the midst of wrestling around on the couch Max gives off a rather non-chalant "ouch" and runs away laughing. He turns around to head back for more and that's when I see it...blood streaming from his nose, all over his face and clothes. Not wanting to panic him, I pick him up and say "oops, we need to clean up your nose a bit" and take him into the bathroom where, of course, there's a huge mirror and he catches sight of the gushing redness. He actually remained quite composed, although he did cry and kept saying, 'make it stop!' After I got him (and myself) all cleaned up I sat him on my lap and said, "I want to ask you a question. I feel SO bad about making your nose bleed. I'm SO sorry. Do you forgive me?" He looked at me puzzled and in a very tentative voice said, "God?" I asked him what he meant and he tried to explain that he was answering my question. I realized that he was associating the concept of forgiveness with God. Goooooood. Then he said, "God hurt my nose and made it all red." Baaaaaaad. I tried explaining that no, God would never do such a thing, that God loves him very much, that it was mommy who accidentally hurt him, all of which only served to cause uncontrollable sobbing. "What's wrong?" I asked, starting to panic that the situation was getting very muddled and confusing for the poor kid. In between sobs I got "question" and "wrong answer" then "I can't do anything." At this point I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that this moment is definitely headed for my Top 10 Worst Mom Moments as I've now bloodied my child's nose, made him think God did it and then walked all over his self-worth by making him think he incorrectly answered my question. I give a mop-up response that attempts to put things right and then pause and finally say, "Hey--how would you like to go out for ice cream?" Problem solved.