Thursday, November 5, 2009

Overcoming What Life Throws at You (3-Year-old Style)

It all started with a common morning complaint of growing young children, "My leg hurts."

I assumed it was typical growing pains, he had complained similarly a few days before, but an hour later this Friday morning he was still limping around the house like a zombie. Groaning, too.

I knew it was getting serious when he started asking to be carried wherever he went, opting to sit the rest of the time. That is not normal for any of my children. After several attempts to get things done were foiled by my shadow whimpering, "Mommy" while trailing behind me with an increasingly severe limp, I gave up and spent the afternoon on the couch with him. He fell asleep long enough for me to get some work done and woke unwilling to walk at all with a visably swollen knee.

Saturday morning Peter took him to get an X-ray: no apparent broken bones, swelling didn't look like an infection, traumatic injury of some sort probable. (Did I mention that I have no idea how the leg was injured? Not even a clue.) Appointments made on Monday with an orthopedist to make sure.

But my son was tired of waiting to be carried around. He simply wasn't going to wait to be pampered. The 2nd day of injury he was up and down the steps, all over the house, on and off the couch, and giggling while playing hide and seek with his siblings all while vehemently eschewing most attempts to be carried. He wasn't walking, but had perfected his own technique:
(Note- this was Halloween day, I was busy with things other than sweeping. This is what my floors look like after one day.)


So, what do you do when life throws you for a loop? I was impressed how well (and quickly) Matthew adapted. He wasn't grouchy about it, he didn't even complain. In fact, he was delightfully cheerful the entire time he scooted. He just dealt with it. More often than not I spend a lot of time fretting about what I can't do instead of looking for solutions that will work within my limitations. I am hoping to become a little more like my little son the next time life decides to challenge me.

Post-Script: Sunday he was willing to tentatively put weight on his leg, taking a few steps by the end of the day and waking up Monday without limp or complaint. Found him jumping on the mini-trampoline. Cancelled the ortho appointment, kept his leg wrapped another day, and all appears to be well.

Post-Post-Script: Just watched the video. Didn't comment on the noice because I forgot not all of you are used to the regular Saturday noise level of my house. This might actually be considered a quiet moment. And my boys are practicing Mario Cart in the hopes of one day defeating my friend's husband- they are out for you, Clark...

15 comments:

  1. This may sound kind of wacky, but keep your eye out for other signs that may indicate Lyme disease. Our neighbor's kid had some issues with swollen knees and that's what the doctor figured out it was. They never found a tick on him and for a while they just assumed he had hurt his knee, but that's what it was.

    Hope everyone at your house stays healthy - have they found H1N1 at your kids' schools yet? We got lovely letters home this week saying that it's in all the schools here. Lovely.

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  2. Actually, that (and arthritis) are the two things Peter was worried about, but the swelling appeared to indicate it was something more trauma related. We will keep our eyes out for more symptoms, though. Thanks for the reminder!

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  3. Poor kid!! He definitely is a fast scooter!! =0)

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  4. Glad he is feeling better now. What a cute little guy he is though and he's inherited your incredibly skinny legs, hasn't he? Isn't is crazy the good life lessons you can learn from little children?

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  5. That is a cute (and pathetic) little scoot! Glad that he's feeling better. and no matter how much your kids practice, they'll never beat me and barlow (and that's a challenge!)

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  6. Em He was even faster when he wasn't being video taped. It was hilarious.

    Kim- Are you calling him a chicken leg? ;)

    Andrea- We need to set up a family wifi wii mariocart tournament. My boys are getting better, but still get killed when they play with random internet people.

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  7. I'm all for a family Wii contest, oh and I would recommend a good physical therapist for his knee, they can do a lot of good you know, but I only know one that I could recommend, and alas, he lives across the country :( Glad he is feeling better.

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  8. Your video instantly reminded me of those sad clips we see of impoverished children wrapped in bandages and scooting around in the dirt because they don't have wheelchairs. If you smear some mud on him, take the shot outside, and run it in slow motion, you could get people to cry over that little movie. But you would have to change the music...

    At first I wondered if you had added theme music to your post, and I found your selection appropriate for the craziness of a busy house. So I had to chuckle when I realized that is the real theme music playing in the background of your life!

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  9. Davis Family- My kids will play. I am too embarrassed to show everyone my dilapidated skills.

    Mary-I thought about children who can never walk. Made me grateful for my children's health. My real life is full of all kinds of crazy background music. Mostly the words to it are "Mo-om!"

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  10. The video is really cute. I think I would have been in bed and asked to be pampered if I had an injured knee.

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  11. The video is really cute. I think I would have been in bed and asked to be pampered if I had an injured knee.

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  12. What a cute little critter! And scooting around without complaint is pretty impressive. My Hubs has a cold and has been a whiny mess all day! LOL!

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  13. I am glad that he is doing better. Hope it was a injury and not something that keeps coming back. He sure is a cute little one.

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  14. His scoot is the best. It is amazing that he was better so quickly. I think it was pure will. Or the fact he didn't want to get trampled by 5 brothers and sisters. ;-P

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  15. Very impressed! Samara would have just waited and wined and wined some more until I carried her. I guess that is the difference between the first and last. I am glad it's getting better without any complications.

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