Tidbits on the Children

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As you know it has been busy around the house this summer. Paul has plenty of material to draw from if he gets the "My Summer Vacation" writing assignment when he goes back to school. About four weeks ago he broke his arm on the trampoline. Dave was also jumping at the time and tried to block a potential crunch only to put in motion another one. After the impact, Paul yelled out in pain and we worked to get him off the trampoline. When he got off, he actually laid on the ground which was puzzling. Everyone was telling him to stand up. After a few seconds he came around and made it inside to a couch where he asked "Why did you wake me up?" We proceeded to the ER. They did an xray and said his arm looked okay. Guess what? It wasn't okay. When we went back a couple days later to follow up in the clinic the doc said he didn't think the previous xray was good quality and wanted another. This one showed a slight crack above his right elbow, so he got a cast to wear for 3 weeks. Paul declined to let anyone sign his cast, because there was a chance that someone might write something rude. He reffered to a tale from Olivia who explained that at school a 3rd grader wrote a bad word when signing a classmates field day t-shirt.

Needless to say, many typical summer activities were now off limits. Last Thursday the cast was removed and Paul was instructed to stay away from activities in which he might fall (like trampoline, skateboarding, etc.) Swimming, however, was suggested as a great activity to help him ease into getting full motion back in his arm.

So on Saturday the whole family goes swimming. I was sitting in some shade with Seth when I noticed a lifeguard talking with Paul on the other side of the pool. Paul was sitting on some stairs to a slide and had a bandage on his knee. Soon Dave was on the scene. Everyone seemed cool, calm and collected. I'm glad I saw this scene of serenity before Livvy and her friend ran up to me to report that "half of Paul's leg had been torn off." I suggested we not exaggerate and then they told me Paul was bleeding. A sitter-by and apparent witness to the accident, offered to tell me what really happened. He told me that Paul slipped on the concrete and when he stood up an inch of his knee was gone. He clarified that the cut was not just an inch wide or deep but that there was actually a piece of his knee missing! (I might add that 1 inch was an understatement, but I give the nice man props for giving me a watered down version.) The lifeguards had called the ambulance but their assistance wasn't needed. We loaded up the family and Dave drove Paul and I to the ER. (Dave had spent time in the ER with Paul for the broken arm, so I volunteered to go this time... actually the prospect of taking a spin in the ambulance was appealing, but I couldn't un-volnteer after I realized that wasn't going to work out.) At first Paul insisted that Daddy go because "he was the doctor." (He is actually an Operating Room tech, but we still expect him to have the answers to all things medical.) Paul changed his mind at the last minute and picked me.

I saw the wound for the first time in triage. (Dave had warned me that when I saw it, if I dared to, I would understand why the first report of "half his leg torn off" was so dramatic.) Apparently my fainting tendencies have dwindled since I was a kid, because I was able to behold this gruesome hole in my little boys knee without getting dizzy. I didn't press me luck, however, and refused a second look when the nurse was ready to sew him up.

This whole time Paul is quite calm. He is one brave boy! He has a pretty good tolerance for pain. Where one child might be wailing, he would say "ouch." All were astonished at how he took everything in stride and was such a trooper. The only thing that really made him nervous was he was afraid of looking at the wound. He and I agree, one look was enough. He ended up with 4 internal stitches and 8 external. They sent him home with a splint so he wouldn't bend his leg for the next day or two since the cut was over a joint. He will have the stitches for 14 days and is on antibiotics. We are going to have to postpone swimming lessons yet one more time. When talking to his Grandma G. on the phone, I heard Paul say "I only had two free days!" meaning he only had two days in between having his cast removed and getting his knee bandaged.

All of the other kids' summers have been, thankfully, less exciting. Olivia has been playing with neighborhood friends with a particular interest in the brand new next door neighbor brothers ages 9 and 11. Olivia usually has a play date with a church friend once a week. She's been busy making potholders on a plastic loom. Total flashbacks. Faith is modeling the loops on her arm in the above picture.

Faith has been busy being her fiesty four year old self and has recently made good friends with a neighbor brother and sister pair who are just a little older than she is. First thing she asks when she wakes up is, "Can I ask Allie and Chase to jump on the trampoline?" I recently heard her singing at the piano, "'T' I drink with jam and bread... 'A' I drink with jam and bread, 'F'..."

And Seth is just growing and charming us all with his sweet smiles. He took his first dip in the pool on the day previously mentioned. The water was too cold for his taste and who could blame him? He much preferred being wrapped in a beach towel and chillin' in his stroller in the shade.