“Mommy! Know what happened to my shoe?”

“No honey, what happened?”

“Um, um, um, um, um, um, uhhh….I don’t know…”

We have similar conversations often; every parent of a toddler or pre-schooler does. The important thing to remember here is this: don’t laugh until after she leaves the room. Yes, of course I want to be a supportive and nurturing parent at all times, but come on…that stuff is hilarious! You can almost see her brain speeding up and going faster than her mouth, eventually leaving her behind all together. So cute!

Eventually her father and I helped her remember what happened to the shoe, by the way: it had a thread hanging off it.

The other day, Bean started telling me knock-knock jokes. A leap forward in her humorous abilities! Sort of.

Bean: Knock knock!
Me: Who’s there?
Bean: Veronica!
Me: Veronica who?
Bean:….it’s me!!

Bean: Knock knock!
Me: Who’s there?
Bean: (giggling) Veronica butt!
Me: Veronica butt who?
Bean: (laughing) I said butt!!

Me: Knock knock.
Bean: Who’s there?
Me: Mommy
Bean: OK Mommy, you can come in.

Me: (trying again) Knock knock!
Bean: We’re not home!

Bonus! A Kiss to Build a Dream On:

But the worst part was when it came off.

Yes, my arm was pale and skinny and flaky – I could deal with all that. But it HURT. Hurt like the day I broke it! Hurt like HELL! Because it’s still healing, duh. And that’s when I realized that maybe I won’t just “bounce back” from this injury like I thought I would. Three more weeks in this smaller cast. Then, some as-of-yet unknown amount of time in a removable splint/brace type of device. Then…?

The new cast is hot pink, lets me bend/straighten my elbow, and makes some tasks a bit easier. But it’s much, much tighter than the last cast; has rough edges that irritate my skin; and is so far rather painful. I’m dutifully putting moleskin on the edges that bother me, but I have to admit, the whole thing is really uncomfortable. Kinda makes me want to drink or something to distract myself.

Ouch.

(Image adapted from here.)

I’m so excited I might pee my pants. Being able to bend/straighten my arm will make everything so much easier. I’m a little worried about how my arm is going to look. I can tell the skin is really dry because I’m itchy a lot more, and the skin on my exposed fingers is so dry, it’s constantly flaking off – and I can put lotion there! I know the outer layer of my skin is just exfoliating itself but it’s so gross to contemplate on a large scale (like an entire arm). Ew!

Finally got the DVD with copyright release of the costumed photos that got taken of Veronica back in January. This was a complete surprise! I walked in to pick her up from daycare and this dude says “Would you like to look at the proofs and see what you like?” I didn’t even know they were going to take pictures and was stunned that they had actually dressed all the kids in costumes and photographed them on a set. The pictures were mind-numbingly adorable, and I paid a ridiculous sum to get a package, but how could I not?

My wrist is screaming now that I’ve typed all this, so I’m off to take more drugs. But here are a few of the photos (full set here).

Typing is a real chore, which is why I haven’t blogged lately. I’m in a lot of pain – it seems worse now than the days right after it happened, but I’m sure that’s because I’m healing. I remember the same deep, non-stop ache when my broken femur was stitching itself back together in 1990. Another week and a half in this giant monstrosity of a cast – then it will be replaced by a smaller model, only to the elbow, for another two weeks. CAN’T COME SOON ENOUGH.

I’m terrified that when they take this cast off, my elbow will be stuck and I won’t be able to straighten my arm! Kind of like what happened to my knee when the cast came off my leg. I have to keep reminding myself that only happened because my knee was also badly injured, and full of adhesions/scar tissue. If my elbow is stiff, thank goodness it will only be temporary.

Office is closed again tomorrow, but so is daycare. Oy vey.

*sigh*

It was stupid how it happened. I was walking down the three stairs between our bathroom/closet area and the bedroom. Still in my pj’s, getting ready to take a shower. Slipped, lost my balance, went airborne. I landed hard on my ass, and would have been sore but OK. But instead, my left arm was flung backwards and struck the edge of the stair at my wrist. I heard the crack and knew it was broken right away.

“Oh shit, some birthday this is gonna be,” I thought.

In agony, I called my insurance company to get approval for a trip to the ER. I was denied. Instead, my hubz had to drive me to our local doctor’s office, where they could only look at it and say, “Yep, that’s broken.” THEN we had to drive 40 miles to a different center where I could get x-rays and see the orthopedist on call. We spent the whole damn day driving and waiting: in traffic, in lobbies, in lines.

I ended up with a purple cast from my palm to above my elbow, and a much-needed scrip for vicoden. One of the bones in my forearm is shattered at the wrist, but if kept very stable, will heal without surgery – hence the giant cast. In three weeks I can hopefully get it removed and replaced with a smaller, forearm-only model. Unfortunately, I’m having to learn how to eat, dress, do my hair/makeup, etc. with one hand, and the wrong hand at that. Writing is out of the question, typing is agonizingly slow, and driving is possible but terrifying.

Let’s not even talk about showering with a garbage bag taped over my arm! Luckily, I found and ordered this, and some of this stuff too. Hilariously, based on those purchases, Amazon decided to show me some other items they think I’d be interested in, including this (slightly NSFW). Um, thanks but no thanks, Amazon.

Where are my drugs?

Sunday afternoon, I went and got my nails done and then hit the gym. When I got home, Bean wanted me to paint her toenails, so we headed up to my room to take care of that. While she was picking out the right shade of pink polish, I decided to change my t-shirt, because I was kind of a stinky mess. So I took it off, threw it in the hamper, and started looking for a clean one.

Bean looked at me and said, “Oh, Mommy. Are you gonna get all nakey?”

The way she said it, in a Very Serious Tone, just cracked me up. Laughing, I told her I was just putting on a clean one, then did so and painted her toenails.

I kind of wish I could ask her some follow-up questions, now that I’ve had time to think about it. Like, “What if I was getting nakey? Would that bother you? Did you want to get nakey too? Shouldn’t we all just get nakey?” LOL. Unfortunately, I’m sure she doesn’t even remember it now, her little three-year-old brain is too full of Disney princesses and race cars and chocolate chip cookies and other important matters.

Kids. They’re strange.