2.24.2008

No really, the award goes to M.E.


So, we all have bad parent experiences. We all yell, scream, & spit fire (and disappoint ourselves in doing so), at our kids sometimes. We get impatient, raise our voices, and then feel guilty afterwards. Really guilty. Sometimes really really guilty.

But this beats out all of those other guilty experiences, and seriously, the Mother of the Year award goes to ME.


So, my girl loves bouncie houses. We rented one for her 2nd birthday. Then my mom got a trampoline this fall. We love it. Every time we go to my mom's house, my sister and I go jump for a few minutes. We drag my mom out there, and even got my brother out there, and we bounce the hell out of each other. My lab, Kooter, has even gone on it, and we are especially delighted when my sister's little rat dog gets on, because we try to bounce him into the neighbor's backyard.

Grace loves it. She calls it a bouncie house. She can't much say trampoline, but she tries. Anyway, we are much more gentle when she is on, and we make her sit down if we are going to bounce her, and I assure you that we have never tried to bounce her into the neighbor's yard. She likes to run in circles along the outer edge (it is enclosed), and likes to bounce onto her bottom. I like to laugh at her hair getting all static-y.

Yesterday she was on the trampoline with my sister. I was busy cleaning up the remnants of my dogs' healthy appetites, so I never had a chance to jump. All is well (other than the smell of the crap I'm cleaning up!!) but then she is screaming crying. They were playing 'Ring around the Rosie' and when they 'all fell down', she must have fallen on her foot wrong, or twisted her ankle wrong, or what the hell happened?????

She couldn't put any weight on her left foot. She cried, and cried. And cried. We wiggled her toes, tried to put some ice on her ankle, and gave her some Tylenol. This morning, her ankle was swollen and hot. She couldn't put weight on it. Even with the gentle coaxing of her Daddy saying 'If you walk to me, I'll take you to the park.' Off to the CareNow clinic, and 4 hours later, we get an x-ray. Ever had to deal with a 2 year old in severe pain, and ever had to make that screaming 2 year old sit still?

The ankle is broken. BROKEN!

My baby girl has a broken ankle! It is called a type 2 Salter-Harris fracture, right above the growth plate on her tibia. Ack. After holding her down for the x-ray, we had to hold her down long enough to get a temporary cast. Now we get to go to a pediatric orthopedic specialist tomorrow. No, REALLY. I did some research, and with this type of fracture, most kids just need a cast for about 6 weeks. But there are some fractures bad enough that require surgery. SURGERY! Have I mentioned the fact that I do not have health insurance???? Fuck. Me.

She's so miserable. She's in pain, she's uncomfortable with this 5 lb. temporary cast attached to her body, and to top it off, she's got an ear infection. And a cough. And a slight fever.

I can't believe she had a broken ankle last night and I just put her to bed! I know I had no way of knowing, but jeez.

I totally deserve the Mother of the Year award. The guilt is eating at my gut. My poor girl.....



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