Fracture

On Monday evening, both kids were hanging out with me in the office as I talked to Mrk on the phone. Johann left to play in the play room. I didn't think anything of it because he has free reign over the house. Arial was up stairs so there was someone up there in case he decided to go up.

Frances was sitting on my lap when I heard the "thump...thump..thuMP.THUMP" of Johann falling down the stairs. Sadly, I recognize the sound as he has fallen down before.

I hung up and raced out to him and he was lying on the landing just starting to cry. After giving him a look over to make sure that picking him up wouldn't hurt him, I picked him up and held him while Arial came down.

After questioning him (which is more of an art than a science) we think that he was at the top of the stairs and a cat ran by him, knocking him off his balance. He kept saying "Up stairs, fall down" but he responded when Arial asked if a kitty ran by him.

Arial held him for a while (because there is no substitute for Mommy). After doing a lay-persons exam for broken bones, I figured I should call Mrk back (since I had left kind of abruptly).

Shortly after calling him, Arial brought Johann up and told me that he was limping. She showed me and sure enough he didn't want to put any weight on his right leg.

We were convinced that he hurt his knee because he kept saying "knee hurt". That resonated with me because I have been having knee problems lately. We decided that he should go to the emergency room.

I took him while Arial stayed back to put Frances to bed.

At the hospital, Johann was very good. He learned that fish take a bath all day long (which he repeated periodically for the rest of the night. He was pretty tired (it was kinda late) so he didn't fuss much. He lay extremely still for the X-rays.

After examining him the resident told me that it wasn't his knee (I was quite relieved) and the X-rays proved him correct. The senior doctor explained that it was a "toddler's fracture". Apparently, it's not all that uncommon for a twisting fracture to occur when tumbling down the stairs.

The X-rays showed a small crack on one side of his shin bone.

The doctor suggested that he didn't need a cast since it was a "stable fracture". But Johann, won't be able to walk on it for a week and shouldn't jump or go down slides for 2 weeks.

Now, Johann is getting frustrated with not being able to walk but the pain keeps him from doing it (I guess that's what it's there for). It just so sad to see him try to stand. We try to stop him when ever he tries.

He has gotten pretty good at walking on his knees and standing without putting weight on it. But you can tell that he wants to be walking and running again.

So now we are taking turns (Arial's turns are longer than mine) holding him or playing with him on the floor. It's going to be a long couple weeks but it should heal with no lasting effects. Hopefully, Johann isn't now afraid of the stairs.

mwz

Mom and Dad

Frances has stopped calling us Mommy and Daddy. She now refers to us as Mom and Dad. She just abruptly changed. It makes me a little sad because I'm guessing that some other kid probably told her that calling us Mommy and Daddy was babyish.

It's very strange though. I didn't really have a problem with calling Arial Mommy when the kids were around because I don't remember calling my own mom that. But I call my mom "Mom". It's going to take some getting used to.

mwz

111

Tonight, Frances and I were playing catch with a plush football. We counted the number of times we each caught the ball.

The first try, we caught 5 in a row before Frances dropped a pass. Then I thought she had lost interest because we couldn't get past 3 for a little while.

Then we caught 49 in a row. We would have kept going but I tossed the ball off center and it bounced off her shoulder.

The next try we caught 111 passes in a row. I was quite proud that Frances both kept catching passes and didn't get tired of the game .

Proud enough to post this.

mwz

Tookie

When Johann wants a cookie, he says "Tookie" or "Want tookie". It's so cute that we usually give him one.

Fortunately, he doesn't ask for tookies very often.

mwz

Knockyadown

Johann's new favorite game is Knockyadown. When Ariel or I are sitting on the floor, he will come up and say "Knockyadown" (as one word) and then try to push you down backwards. Since he's not strong enough to actually knock us down, it is a controlled descent and he rides all the way down.

Then, if he wants to do it again, Johann will say, "helpen" and try to help you up. You get up only to hear "Knockyadown" again.

"Helpen" is also one of his new favorite words. He uses it to mean "I need help" and so say "I am helping".

mwz

Good TV

The other day, the kids and I were watching some kids program that we had recorded on the DVR. For the most part they were playing and I was watching. That happens sometimes.

When it finished, I just left it on the channel that the TV was on, which happened to be the Food network and went to talk to Arial in the kitchen.

I came back after a couple minutes and both Frances and Johann were sitting on the couch just watching TV. It's pretty unusual for them both to eschew playing at the same time to watch something. That peeked my curiosity so I went in to see what they were watching (plus they looked pretty cute sitting next to each other on the couch).

It was Good Eats. They were captivated by Good Eats. It's a good show and all but I didn't think that it would attract 1 and 3 year-olds.

I found that amusing.

Arial's First Triathlon

This post has been on my plate for a long time. Which is a shame because I am very proud of the subject matter.

A couple weeks ago, Arial completed her first triathlon. It was a sprint and she finished it... well, I'm not going to say "easily" since it wasn't an easy task but she did it without depleting all of her energy.

I'm not going to give a race report (for one, I didn't do the racing), so this is going to be from my perspective.

Arial doesn't have a wet suit. The tri was late in the season, so we knew the water would be cold. I asked her repeatedly if she wanted to get one but she refused. When she started swimming, I could watch her for awhile. It looked to me like she was stuck behind some people. Her head was up out of the water like she was looking for a way around.

After the race, she told me that I didn't understand what I was seeing. The water was so cold that she forgot how to swim. I think she still did a faster swim that I did even though I wasn't fighting hypothermia.

It turns out that it is harder to be in charge of the kids than one might think. In a strange place, you really have to work not to lose track of them.

We cheered Arial on as she came out of the water. I had forgotten the signs we had made for her and didn't have the camera but we made due. It was my first tri as a spectator, hopefully I'll get better at it.

We played in the beach sand during the swim and most of the bike. The sand time was the easiest for me. The kids pretty much entertain themselves when sand is involved.

When we left the sand and went to where the bikes came in, I had to keep a closer eye on them. Without anything immediately interesting, they kept trying to wander off. They both tried keeping their balance on those cement parking things.

Frances tried to play with another group of girls but they all knew each other and so they just ignored her. She was pretty bummed about that. It was hard to get her to cheer when Arial arrived on her bike. But I sent her running with Arial (with a fence in between) as she walked her bike in transition and that seemed to cheer her up.

During the run, we played at a play ground. There were a lot of kids there making it a little stressful. About this time I started being thankful that it was a sprint and not an Olympic because this would take less time.

There was an kind of merry-go-round at the playground that a lot of kids were playing on. The other kids were really good about making sure the younger ones were safely on. Both Frances and Johann road on it but Frances stayed on a lot longer. It may have made up for the snubbing she had received earlier.

Around the time that I figured that Arial would be finishing her run, we walked up the race course a little ways. Not to long after that, Arial came running. She looked good, not dragging or anything. We cheered and she ran faster than I could while I carried the kids. She beat us to the finish line by quite a ways.

We hung around for a little, while Arial got food and drink (no first aid tent needed for her). And then we went out to eat.

I am very proud of Arial for finishing the tri. Now both of us are triathletes.

mwz