Reed is three months old and Beck has a full leg cast

Today, August 3, is Reed's three month birthday. And yesterday Beck broke his tibia and got a full leg cast. Exciting times around here.

The leg is just one of those times when in hindsight you see how you should have easily prevented what happened, but didn't see how at the time. We were playing at the Trumansburg school playground and had only been there a short time when Beck got on the monkey bars. He likes to see if he can grab them (it's a big deal, since he couldn't reach any last summer, and now there are a few playgrounds where he can reach them) and then drop down to the ground. I have seen him effortlessly drop or jump down several feet, almost always landing on his feet. This time, because I was unencumbered with a baby, unlike how I usually am, I was talking to Beck about how he could reach to the next bar by swinging his legs. I see now that he really just wanted to reach, hang and drop--but I thought if I showed him, he would see how he could do it. I can remember the moment when I saw his hands slipping off, because he wanted to drop, and his legs still swinging out behind him. What I imagine happened was that he fell while his legs were still somewhat behind him, so when his bosh dropped, his leg hit the platform on the way down. Now Beck falls and bumps a lot, because he is daring and brave and moves quickly, and because like his mama and grandma Joanie he sometimes underestimates the dimensions of his body. And he has lots of bumps and bruises. But he hardly ever cries about falls or bumps. So when he wailed and cried and screamed, I knew something was very wrong.

I wanted to stop at the cottage of Dr Dugan, our family friend and orthopedic surgeon, or straight to the hospital, but Beck absolutely insisted on going home to get his blanket. We did drop Theo off with my parents (we had to take Reed because I am his only food source) so it wasn't only for the blanket but it was amazing how much comfort he received from that blanket, the one he sleeps with every night and has since he was tiny. He just kept screaming that he needed his blanket (and that the bumps in the car hurt his leg). But he was right. I'm not sure if he cried at all again once he had his blanket.

At the hospital (Cayuga Med) Beck was pretty happy to play games and watch movies in daddy's iPad. He acted surprisingly normal and cheerful, though I could tell he was very tired. They did an x-Ray right in the room with a portable machine, and pretty soon the doc came back and told us it was broken. We had to wait for the orthopedic guy to set it, and in the meantime I had lots of opportunity to look at sad Internet pictures of kids in casts and think of all the things Beck wouldn't be able to do the rest of the summer (the ER doc said the cast could be on 4-10 weeks) and ruminate on what a terrible mother I am that I did this to my child. Then the (kind of gruff) orthopedic dr came and set it in a hard cast and told us the hard cast will probably be off in two weeks, with a walking cast for the next two weeks and then probably nothing. So I think we're looking at the best case scenario here and he should be out of the cast by Labor Day and the start of school.

Throughout, Beck has been amazing. Yesterday as soon as we got some pain meds in him he was pretty normal, albeit tired. I woke him up to give him ibuprofin overnight, which we're trying to give him around the clock now. Beck woke up this morning saying that he forgot he was even in a cast. Then he said "it would be funny, Mama, if the Cast Fairy came and took my cast off while I was sleeping." He didn't eat much for breakfast and then retreated back upstairs to watch movies and play games on Daddy's iPad, but after eating a pretty good lunch he asked if he could go play trains. I helped him down from the chair, but then he scooted himself into the living room and all around to build the train set with Theo. After his nap this afternoon, we knew he was awake because he appeared at the top of the stairs, having already made it down the first four steps before the landing. He's even hopping a bit, with support, on the good foot. I know he's mostly probably just thrilled to have unlimited "screen time" with the iPad and movies and games to his heart's content, and that at some point soon he will be grumpy about not being able to do fun stuff, but for now he's been absolutely terrific.

Managing a preschooler with a broken leg, a very active preschooler withOUT a broken leg and lots of energy to get out, and a three month old baby will be a challenge, no doubt, but today was a breeze because of how thrilled the big boys were to have screen time, and Reed's first forays into napping in the crib. At night he's still sleeping 7-9 hours straight in his crib, but daytime napping has been mostly in arms or in my baby carrier. And Daddy came home at lunchtime bearing groceries and lots and lots of patience and good humor. I've decided: this family works a lot better with one parent not working outside the home at all, and the other only working mornings. I am currently looking at ways to fund said venture.

Friday we visited Toddler Time at Skyzone Syracuse with Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu to do some trampolining for the first time. I'm guessing we won't be back for, oh, just guessing here, at least four to six weeks.