Friday, May 28, 2010

Cast Adventure - Part Two

So, we are finally getting used to having this cast thingy on William's leg, when yesterday we are thrown another curve.  I am busy getting the kids ready to take to the dayhome so that I can get to work, and we're in a bit of a rush.  I notice, at this point in my rather hectic morning, that William has a "dirty" diaper.  So, to be kind to my childcare provider, I decide to quickly change him before heading over.  I pick William up and hear this "clunk" against the wall.  I'm thinking to myself, "I didn't walk that close to the wall...how did I manage to knock his leg against it?" when I look down and see his cast lying in the middle of the floor.  Yep, you read right, his cast.  Just fell off his leg.

So I quickly phone my dayhome to let her know that I will be sending Maria over without her brother for a while.  Then I pack William up for his second trip to the ER in 5 days.  This wouldn't have been such a big deal, if it wasn't already 8:30am (the time I am supposed to start work) and my first client wasn't scheduled to arrive at 9:00am.  Thankfully the girls at work were able to contact my morning clients and cancel their appointments.  Now William is sporting a bright green cast, which appears to be a little more snug than the blue one.  Hopefully this one stays on...at least until next week when we go back for reassessment.  Let me tell you, I'm going to be pretty sick of this ER department by the time this is all said and done.  Sigh...

The kids at the dayhome were all excited to see William back though and decided that Shannon (our childcare provider) should make sure that all their names got onto his cast.  Maria had signed the original blue one (which we still have - a good keepsake as it did not have to suffer the saw to come off), but the names definitely show up better on the green one.  A positive to this latest adventure I suppose.

Boys will be boys...I suppose


Time for an update, and what an update we have too.  We've been sitting here, anxiously waiting for William to walk so that we would have something new to post.  But our darling little boy decided to give us something much more interesting to talk about. 

Let me set the scene.  Saturday evening, I have just come home from walking the dog and am busily preparing supper.  Maria has decided she wants to "help" me cook, so we have set up the 2-step step stool in front of the kitchen counter and Maria is standing on the top step handing me carrots to chop.  Enter William.  Now I should point out that the boy has, over the past three weeks, become a proficient climber...stairs, chairs, boxes, step stools, etc.  He can go up and down stairs and objects with speed and efficiency.  However, that has also given him a sort of lacking in the fear department.  Hence the events that followed. William decided that he too needed to "help".  So, up the step-stool he comes.  Then, out of the corner of my eye I see some movement and as I turn to look I see William on the floor.  Not usually a big deal...it wasn't that far of a drop (maybe 2 feet) and he wasn't even crying...until he saw his dad, then came the waterworks.  Well, the crying continued for a good length of time, at which point we offered William his milk (it was supper time afterall) and he promptly fell asleep on me.  He had a nice little nap, and when he woke up he happily ate his supper. 

Now, at this point he was still a little cranky, but it was approaching bedtime and so we decided to try to put him down for the night.  When he wouldn't settle we got him back up, which was convienent as Grandma and Grandpa E had just arrived for a visit.  It was during this visit that we noticed William seemed to fuss if we moved his one leg too much.  Aaron looked the leg over but there was no evidence of swelling or bruising so we wondered if maybe he had a muscle pull.  A few minutes later I attempted to stand William up at one of the side tables in the livingroom and it became pretty obvious there was a bit more of a concern.  William was not weightbearing on his right leg.  So we packed him up and made our way to the emergency room.  Two hours later we were home with William sporting a nice, royal blue cast.  That's right, the little guy broke his leg.  He has a nice greenstick fracture on his tibia (the bone on the inside of his lower leg - the break is just above his ankle). 

So far William is adjusting to having limited mobility in his leg.  It is, however, going to put a damper on his learning to walk, as that will have to wait until he is healed up and the cast is removed.  We go back in two weeks to have things reassessed.  For the moment the biggest difficulty we are having with the cast is getting William to stay asleep at night.  His preferred sleep position is on his tummy with his knees tucked up underneath him.  You can't do that with a cast from your thigh to foot.  It would also appear that he has forgotten the event that got him into the cast in the first place as he has been trying to climb anything and everything again.  This is leading to loads of frustration though as it is not as easy to do these things with a leg that won't bend.  Thank goodness.  I don't think I could handle it if he could still climb the things he used to. 


Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Little Guy is One!

Guess another update is due...to follow up the last two.  This time it's about our little man.  Seems like only yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital and already he is a year old.  He is now 23lbs, 13 oz and has managed a height of 30 1/4".  He now has a handful of words: "mama, boo" and what sounds like "all done".  Recently he has also been imitating "daddy" and "more".   He has also started to stand unassisted...although only when caught unawares.  For example, I caught him standing in the office opening and closing his toy cellphone yesterday, but as soon as he looked around and realized he wasn't touching anything he immediately sat down on the floor.  I think it is safe to assume that standing and walking are coming down the line in the not too distant future.  He now has a grand total of 4 teeth...and the more exciting news...has finally decided he a) doesn't need a bottle at night anymore, and b) he can sleep through the night without visits from mom or dad!  I have not had this much energy in a very long time.

We celebrated his first birthday (for the second time) on the 17th.  He was very into the presents (although Maria insisted on opening most of them for him) and he LOVED his cake.  This may have come from having already had a practice run, and therefore knowing what was expected of him this time.  In fact, Aaron barely rescued the cake from William's grubby little paws, pulling it out of reach just in time.  It was a great day spent with family and it was nice to keep things a little bit low key this year. 


Now it is time to gear up for the approaching summer.  If it ever gets here that is....as I write this we are sitting in the midst of another snowstorm and winter storm warning for the south of our province.  Sigh....