Hot Pink Is The New I Knew It!

Sooooooooo Avee fell jumped 24 days ago. After one solid week of refusing to walk, she started walking trepidatiously, often preferring to crawl. She did that for about 5 days. Then she started mostly walking and proudly announcing, "I can WALK, I CAN WALK!" and "Iss not ho-ting, iss not!"

Most of that was because she knew if she could walk and it didn't hurt, the word "doctor" would stop coming up in conversation.

X-rays on the day of the injury and 1 week later both failed to show anything. But I was not convinced. Especially after hearing story after story of undiscovered breaks. And because Avee is unstoppable. Seeing her "stopped" was the most telling. She fell a lot. She would be walking/running and would suddenly be crawling. She'd morph into a crawl without breaking her stride, much how I imagine a werewolf looks. If werewolves actually existed.

Ave's pediatrician wiggled her leg around (Avee is the worst kind of patient, she refuses to show that it hurts. I see her set her little jaw and I know the dr will get nothing from her, no matter how much it hurts) and sent me down for x-rays. I was a little disappointed she didn't try harder, but whatever. She referred us to a pediatric orthopaedist. J wanted me to chill out in case it was a sprain. So I chilled. And at two weeks of still falling, sporadically crawling, and consistent limping, I called to get an appt. They told me December 3rd. That was a week ago. I said to the scheduler, "You do realize how ridiculous it is for you to even suggest I wait that long, don't you?" She was mildly sympathetic, but assured me there was nothing more she could do. There is no other orthopaedic group in this area. I hung up the phone on the verge of tears. If my daughter's growth plate was affected and she remained 2' 8" for the rest of her life, I was gonna be sick.

After a weekend of worrying about all of it, I called my pediatrician again. She wasn't in, but a nurse went to bat for me. She had no more luck than me, but got me on a cancellation list. The next day the nurse apprised Avee's dr of the situation and the doctor said "that's not acceptable" two hours later I had an appointment with an orthopaedist for this morning at 9 am.
We had to wait an hour and 45 minutes. Avee was doing flips off the couch. When the receptionist came to tell me how much longer my wait was, Avee made a break for it and got all the way across a lobby (about 25 feet) and up about 12 stairs. The receptionist chased after her. She thought it was funny. I was embarrassed. Here I was, convinced that something was wrong with Avee and she's tearing through the office like a madwoman. I had finally convinced myself the night before, I'd rather be wrong and look dumb, than be right and her suffer. I'm selfless like that. But with Avee's antics and lots of witnesses, I was feeling a bit sheepish.

The dr checked her, it was a fracture, she was in getting a cast within 10 minutes.

The guy who put her cast on was a genius. I have mentioned Avee's phobia of bandaids, so I wasn't too confident the whole casting thing was going to go over well. He had Avee wrapped around his finger in seconds. That NEVER happens. Ever. She was giggling and covering her mouth and batting her eyes and answering every question he asked. Even the dumb ones. That NEVER happens. :) He asked Avee what Danyo was having for lunch. I was praying she wouldn't say "booms" which she normally does, but she just giggled at the silly suggestion from the cute man. Then she said, "Danyo not eats, he dust spits and kicks." Amazingly accurate.

He let her touch and hold little pieces of everything he put on her leg. She picked a pink cast and within moments of it drying she said, "Avee not want pink, I want yellow!"

That's my girl.

As we were walking out, she said loudly to me, "I got a pink catsth fo Trissmas!"

Jumping off a bed and hurting her leg, not walking for a week, being limited for nearly another, falling multiple times a day (this child is like a cat so suddenly being "clumsy" has been very hard on her---Bo on the other hand, is convinced that door frames walk out and trip him regularly), being gimpy, having an owie she couldn't articulate, was ALL worth it for the moment her cast was dry and she heard the cute, funny, man say, "Okay, let's see if you can walk on it." Her eyes lit up and she got a huge grin and I could see the joy exuding from her pores at the prospect of a CHALLENGE. I have never seen a child who loves a challenge more. She did not get that from me. It took her about 10 steps to be completely confident and then she was annoyed by the hovering adults trying to hold her hand.

I'm still somewhat a novice at this parenting thing, but one day I will trust my mother's instinct. I've never been wrong when being "overly" cautious, but I have been wrong when disregarding things, afraid I was being hypersensitive. I need to reteach my brain. It's okay to look stupid when it concerns your children. Aw, who am I kidding? It's okay to look stupid anytime.

Oh yeah, and that little boy Danyo---he's perfect. He sat in his carseat sleeping, talking, cooing, laughing, kicking and spitting for over two hours. They just don't come more perfect than him.

Mr. Smiley
Mcsmileypants.