Patient Update

I've been getting a few comments and emails asking how the little guy is doing. The answer is....I wish I knew!

A few days into the cast I started getting the feeling that maybe he could walk more than he was letting on. I also discovered the cast was rubbing the back of his foot raw. So, I took it off to see what would happen. He still asked to be carried everywhere, and would whine like crazy anytime I suggested he take a few steps. The advice I got from everyone was that 3 yo will walk after an injury when they are healed and ready to go. So, I waited.

However, when his father got home from snow skiing, we put him to the test.

Daddy asked him to walk a few steps, and if it hurt, he didn't have to do anymore. After a bit of fussing, he did it, after which he exclaimed, "Look, I can WALK!"

Now he is running and jumping again, but he walks with a LIMP! I don't even want to know what that means.

One of Those Days...

You know, the kind where you have absolutely nothing planned so you think that you are going to get all kinds of things done during the day? But then one thing after another happens, and your day looks like this...

• My husband was out of town for the weekend, so I already should have known that with no back-up around, I probably wasn't going to accomplish everything I wanted to.


• Factor in a 3 year old who can't walk, and that adds a new dimension to life. However, his immobility did have its advantages. He actually sat and played in one area for longer than he has since he was in the "sitting up but can't crawl" stage.


• My parents took mercy on me and had the boys nap at their house for the afternoon so I could try to recoup some lost sleep from the two previous nights of continual crying because of the foot injury.


• I woke up from my nap, ran through the shower, and then looked out my window. I saw dark clouds. Lots and lots of dark clouds.


• My phone rang and, of course, it was my mom. "Are you heading this way? We have weather moving in."


• Yes, we do. I jumped in the van to head into town. Thirty seconds later I could tell something was wrong with my van. I heard a noise I knew I shouldn't be hearing, and it felt like it was working twice as hard as normal. However, with the rain, roaring wind, and thunder, it was really hard to tell what was going on. I begin having visions of my van dying 2 miles from town and a tornado heading right toward me.


• I prayed my van into town, and as I hit the city limits, the hail began.


• As I pulled into my parents driveway, the tornado sirens started blaring.


• As I pulled into my parents garage (yes, they made room for my van in their garage), I noticed my van was smoking.


• I did what any girl in her right mind does - I ran inside and yelled, "Dad, my van is smoking!"


• We ran back outside - rain and hail pouring down, tornado sirens blaring - to make sure my van wasn't going to start the entire garage on fire.


• We returned to the house to my oblivious 3 yo and freaked out 6 yo who were in the basement with grandma.


• A couple of hours later I took the boys home. Since my husband was gone, I did the responsible thing and headed downstairs to make sure the sump pump was working (we've been bitten by that one before) and all was well.


• At the bottom of the stairs I was greeted by an obnoxious odor. The kind you get when something has died in your house. We've lived in the middle of a wheat field for 4 years, and amazingly enough, this is the first time I've smelled this odor in this house. It was about enough to kill me, but I had trouble mustering up the courage to go searching for it.


• I teetered back and forth between being brave and taking care of it on my own, and calling my father to help me.


• My dad came to rescue me.
• And I officially am an idiot. After a significant search through the house, we found the problem. Last week I cleaned and organized the freezer in the basement. I took inventory of everything we had and made a pile of stuff to throw out. Only it seems I didn't actually throw it out.
• Oh well, at least I don't have mice.

Question of the Day

What do you get when you mix 1) a crazy three year old running at full speed, 2) concrete, and 3) crocs?

This...

Disadvantage: The child refuses to bear any weight on it at all, resulting in me carrying him everywhere.

Advantage: I never have to wonder what he is getting into! The poor kid doesn't move much.

Season Over

"Mommy, look at the slide! It's snowing! Now we can build a snowman!"

GPS for Heaven?

3 yo: "Mommy, where's Jesus?"

Me: (Knowing there are several possible answers here, none of which are easy to explain, I opt for the ever-easy...) "In Heaven."

3 yo: "Where's Heaven?"

Me: "Well, we can't see it right now, but it's where you go after you die." (Yes, I know there's more to it.)

3 yo: "But where is it?"

Me: "It's not on this earth, honey. We can't see it."

3 yo: "But WHERE IS IT?"

Me: "We don't really know exactly."

3 yo: "Can we drive there?"

Me: "No, we can't drive there."

3 yo: "So why don't you know where it is?"

Me: "Want to watch a movie?"

Latest Happenings

• I made it through the big chili feed and birthday party and spent last week getting ready for parent-teacher conferences.
• I survived two days of conferences in a very cold auditorium. The first day I froze. The second day I wore two pairs of socks, long johns under my pants (yes, I really did), three shirts, and a sweater. And I had a space heater by my feet. NO exaggeration. I did take off my gloves when a parent came to talk to me.
• We went to see my sister-in-law, nephew, and niece in Beauty and the Beast on Saturday night. It amazed me. There are some really talented people around here who disguise themselves as social workers, teachers, and insurance agents.
• Today I was a true mom. I babysat, glued puzzles together, organized coupons, took my child to the doctor for a well-check, finished grading papers, and remembered at 7:00 tonight that I had to bake two pies for the school fundraiser tomorrow. Ugh.
• My sister-in-law called at 7:20 and said, "You should have called me. I have pies in the freezer!" Pies in the freezer? Who does that? Oh yeah, she and her mom both do that. WHY did I not think to call one of them?
• At 7:25 I realized I didn't have enough flour to finish both pies. I nearly called pie 911, but I didn't need one more reason for them to laugh at me. I sent my husband to the store.
• My house does have a nice pie aroma at the moment.
• I could have lit a candle for the same effect.