A Broken Arm

Last Sunday Elsie took a fall from a kitchen chair and landed on her stomach and hands. She cried for a while and seemed concerned about her hand. Mike and I held her and made sure everything seemed okay and sent her on her way. That day everyone was sick and we had mostly stayed home from church. Elsie continued to act fussy, but we chalked it up as being sick like the rest of us. Well, she cried through part of the night and continued to into the morning, just wanting to be held. Mike and I couldn't figure out if this was her being sick or if something was truly wrong with her arm. At about noon we decided to take her into her pediatrician. After looking at the x-rays, the doctor said, "Well, it looks like we have a broken arm." The big bone, right below her wrist joint was broken over half way through. Ooops. Elsie is a very small 16 month old, barely fitting into her 12 mo clothes, which meant figuring out how to imobilize the joint took some thought and consulting. Finally they decided to cast it. She held SO still as her doctor bandaged her up, and when he was done she turned to him and said, "Thank you". It was pretty cute. Once we took her home she was running around with it like nothing ever happend. I'm just wondering how I'm going to keep her out of the mud and water for 3 weeks. Yikes, it could get ugly!

No Training Wheels

Mike and I had a really busy Saturday planned. We got up early and started on our chore list: mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage, etc. A little after 8:00 Peter informed his dad he wanted his training wheels taken off. You don't turn a request like that down, so by 8:20, all chores had ceased, and Mike was helping Peter onto his newly solo 2-wheeled bike. Peter got on and took off. Mike ran with him around the corner and up a hill to a neighbors house, where Peter turned around and came back home. He took to it like a fish does to water. We were so proud! By noon he was riding his bike everywhere and making all sorts of obstacles for himself to ride around. It was the highlight of our day. Funny how something like this makes you realize how menial your "to do" list really is.

"Our" Dogs

We are the minority in our neighborhood because we own just one solitary fish we keep as a pet. Everyone else has a dog. There is Ella, the hunting chocolate lab, Toby (golden retriever?), Mocha (Australian shepherd), Elvis (golden lab), Doodle (an 8-week old poodle), and our favorite, Duke (he’s a boxer). We love all the dogs! Mocha, we must admit tries our patience. When she gets into our garbage searching for Elsie’s dirty diapers, our love wanes, for sure. However, she is still a young, big, pup. Duke loves to play and be pet. He is right next door, so we see him the most. Yesterday Elsie even said his name, “Duke”. It was really cute. Our neighbor’s son also got a brand new dog, just six weeks old. His name is Choppers and he’s a Mastiff. I doubt he’ll stay so little for very long. So I’m wondering, why would we ever get a dog when we have so many to love all around us? We’ve got the best of both worlds – lots of dogs to love without having to take care of one. I’ve just got to convince Peter and Elsie. Here are the pictures of some of the dogs I’ve told you about.

A Healthy Lunch

A few days ago I measured Peter and we both realized he had grown about ¾” of an inch. He felt so big and told his Aunt Lanita he weighed 200 pounds. I think he was still on this kick a few hours later when I asked Peter what he wanted for lunch. His response, I must admit, was unusual. He replied, “Um, how about salad and a carrot. Oh, and pears and applesauce!” Okay….well, I wasn’t going to turn that request down. As I got the carrot out of the fridge he was especially excited and said, “Yea Mom, I’ve got to use my back molars to eat that, you know.” So I set him on the table and he proceeded to eat his healthy lunch, back molars and all. After a few minutes I saw him running back and forth from the kitchen table to our coffee table. He’d get to the smaller sized table, take a deep breath, and lift that thing up as high as he could. Yep, he could tell he was definitely getting stronger from all that healthy food. It was cracking me up.

Graduation

On May 21st Peter graduated from his first year of Joy/Preschool. It was a fun year for him and he had a great time learning new things. We met at the park and one of the Mom’s, Deb, brought along a “food craft” where they made graduation hats out of chocolate. Of course, Peter loved it! Congratulations buddy!

A Craft

Many mornings, at the crack-of-dawn, Peter wakes up and says, “Mom, can I do a craft?” That is when my dear husband rolls out of bed, takes him downstairs, turns on Sesame Street, and goes for a run. Eventually I rollout of bed and turn the t.v. off and get breakfast rolling. However, the questions continues to be asked throughout the day, “Mom, can I do a craft?” I put him off for as long as I can with chores and outside play, but when Elsie goes down for a nap, the craft often comes out. Here is Peter working on one of his masterpieces. It’s a boxcar to a train.

It's finally hot enough!

About a week ago it was finally hot enough for my kids to don on a swimsuit and go run through the sprinklers! Peter has been asking if he can play in the water and throw water balloons since March. They had a great time! Elsie just stood under the sprinkler the whole time and giggled and laughed while she watched Peter run through - back and forth, back and forth. When her lips started turning purple, I wrapped her in a towel and we called it quits. They had a great time!