Well, you asked...

Today The Boy and I were finishing his end-of-the-year thank you cards for his preschool teachers. I asked him what he liked most about each teacher, what was his favorite part about the year, etc.
Today he wanted to add a card for a third teacher in his afternoon class, one who's only there for a couple of hours during the lunchtime hour when the class has more kids. I think she's young and part-time, and we've heard stories about how she thumb wrestles with the kids and plays in the gym.

So I asked him what he wanted to write in the card to her, and here's what he said - verbatim.

"Thank you for playing games with us in the gym and not just standing around like S. and R. (the head teacher and assistant teacher) always do."

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. When we stopped laughing, I said, "How about I just write thanks for playing with us in the gym?" And then I explained that this teacher just comes for a couple of hours, and the other teachers are responsible for all the planning and cleaning up and supervision in the classroom and the gym, etc. Standing around - ha!

In one ear and out the other. The way to a preschooler's heart is through the gym.

What I have avoided writing about tonight is that tomorrow is his LAST DAY OF PRESCHOOL.
I am not prepared. What if I cry saying goodbye to the teachers?
I know he's nervous thinking about it too, but more with the realization that the first day of kindergarten is really coming. Today he asked me if I was scared on my first day of kindergarten. I said yes. (Mom and Grandma, you are FORBIDDEN to tell him how I was completely hysterical and the teacher had to take me out in the hall!)

A big milestone. To mark the occasion, he got his stitches out today.

Doesn't the big floating "Wizard of Oz" head look happy? Better picture coming soon.

Some sort of record

This blog is about to be renamed: The Boy and his Injuries.

We had a first today. The first time his school called to say, "He's fine, but he had an accident, a collision with another child, and we think he might need stitches."
Of course it was the one day a week I'm at work. Twenty minutes away. Daddy rushed to school to wait while I left work, and I met them there. In true wonderful mommy style, I kissed him, and then immediately whipped out my cell phone to document it for the blog.

Crappy cell phone pictures don't do it justice, even close up. But those eyes! I swear he added extra pathetic for the photo.

What happened? He collided with another kid as said kid was running out of the bathroom while The Boy (he swears he was walking) was going in. Other kid is slightly shorter than The Boy, so I think the top or side of his head connected w/Boy's eyebrow and cheek.

So back to the ER we went--the same ER where he received one stitch behind his ear last August, after hopping on one foot right into a table. And remember he still has a SPLINT on his arm!
I wish I had a photo collage of each person's face (the triage nurse, the registration person, the medical assistant, and the physician's assistant) when they asked, "What happened to your arm?" right after they asked, "How did you cut your eye?" I think I have the "CPS Watch List" on my chart, especially when they realize we took him to a DIFFERENT hospital for the broken arm, and yet ANOTHER one for the broken collarbone 3 years ago.

Short story, it took four stitches to close up the gash that looks like a boxing injury in his right eyebrow, he was a trooper, I almost fainted while they were cleaning it out, and after three hours, one candy bar, one bag of Doritos, and an ice cream cone later (see his mouth in next photo), we were home. I predict a black eye by the weekend.
We love you Brave Boy!

Splinted

The mean green, slightly dirty and stinky cast is no more.
The Boy had his cast taken off today, only to be replaced with a much less cool brown splint. But at least he can take it off. Three weeks more in the splint and he should be good to return to all his dangerous activities.

Juan the cast guy didn't do much in the way of kid-friendly introductions, just wheeled this big saw over, put on his mask and fired it up. The Boy was a little scared but managed to be brave.






And there it is, after having the dirt and wood chips (yes, there really were wood chips inside his cast) washed off. He wouldn't let me take a picture of the dry skin, and chose not to save the stinky cast shell..



They cut off the cast, did another x-ray, and pronounced him splint-worthy. More like splinter-worthy, with all those wood chips in his cast. The doctor showed us the x-rays from today compared to May 5, and called it "remodeling," where the bone has just regrown over the spot of the fracture. Kids are amazing--in three weeks, he said we won't even be able to tell there was a fracture.

We're a little nervous that the splint isn't restrictive enough, like maybe they should have left the cast on for two more weeks. But he's supposed to use it and stretch it at home, just being careful not to fall. His arm is even skinnier than it was before, and it's pretty weak. He preferred the splint on this evening, saying it felt too weird and weak when it was out.

He was so excited to take a bath tonight, although he instinctively set his left arm up on the tub's edge until I reminded him he could get it wet.

He has handled this whole broken arm thing in such a grown-up way, really hasn't fussed or complained about it at all. Not playing t-ball was really hard for him, and at school he's sad about not riding bikes in the gym or climbing on the playground toys. But he knows that another injury means a cast for most of the summer, and somehow he has miraculously grown up to the point where he can understand what that means.

Worried mama just hopes he can really be careful. I always worry, you know.

Mean Green Casted Machine

Monday update: The cast is on, in all its glory. Thank God is all I have to say. I am exhausted from worrying about him in that splint. He went back to school today--hope the cast is still intact.
The Arm during a Weekend Unveiling (it was never very swollen)


Fish Lips pose with his splint (especially for Nanny)

Cast Day
Step 1: Lovely cotton sleeve to soak up the sweat and get all stinky over the next 4 weeks

Step 2: Wrap with white fiberglass wrap - they dip this ace-bandage type thing in water and it's flexible enough to wrap for a few minutes until it dries. The guy was a super fast casting expert!

Step 3: The cool part - wrap with GREEN cast stuff. He got to choose his color! Notice how The Boy took this very seriously. He has been amazing through the whole thing, actually.

Step 4: Pose for picture with awesome green cast! At least indulge silly Mommy with her camera! But you have to admit he's darling!!!

One Little Monkey

It was the monkey bars. The Boy had finally conquered them, and could swing all the way across. Then Thursday afternoon, one bad jump and one big thump. Monkey bars 1, The Boy 0 (zero meaning one broken arm).

Much crying, but calmed down after some ice, and actually went to dinner and home and bed. Friday morning we decided the small bit of swelling plus the anticipation of Saturday swimming and Sunday t-ball warranted a visit to the doctor. X-ray confirmed that we're not such worry warts after all.

You can barely even see it below, thanks to the bad scanning. But it's there. If I had Photoshop, I could draw an arrow pointing to the little bump that's not supposed to be there. The bump on the right side of the picture, near the top of his radius (the big bone) just before it goes into his wrist. The bump is more noticeable on the original picture.


He's ok, not in much pain, splinted for now, with a cast (says he'll choose green) coming on Monday. More photos coming, although the actual wrist isn't that spectacular.

Mama will feel better once he's casted. Watching him wave that thing around just makes me crazy. I went in to check on him tonight after he fell asleep, and he was seriously DANGLING his left arm off the edge of the bed. Slight heart attack and some repositioning. Now I'm worried he'll knock himself silly in his sleep when he gets the heavy cast on.