A First I Could Have Done Without / Lessons from Parenthood

So it turns out that letting your child go down the slide in your lap can be dangerous.

I did not know this.

Two weeks ago, Rhys and I were at a park that we don't usually go to and the slide struck me as too steep for him to go down by himself.  So, I went down with him in my lap.  I've done this before with no problems and we were perfectly fine doing it several times that day ... until the last time when his sneaker caught on the slide and he was crying by the time we got to the bottom.  :(

And so began another first: Rhys's first trip to the ER.

Of course, Rhys, in his usual good-humored, laid-back way, was not very upset once we got to the hospital. He rather enjoyed playing with (and throwing) his cups while we waited for the doctor, x-rays, etc. At some points during our visit, I wondered if I had overreacted and shouldn't have brought him to the ER at all.

Right after getting his cast
(before I went to buy 5T socks
socks that can fit over the cast)

It's good we went though.  It turns out that he has a probable fractured tibia and now has a below-the-knee cast on his leg that he'll have for about 3 weeks.  He can walk in it, has really taken it in stride, and the pediatric orthopedist we followed-up with says the break should heal quickly and completely with no long-term repercussions.  (Specifically, he said,"Whatever he is pre-destined to do, he'll still be able to do."  In other words, I have not ruined any future professional sports career.)  But I of course still felt awful, particularly once I learned that this is a surprisingly common injury scenario (#1 cause of fractured tibias in toddlers!). For more information, see here and here.  Now it's my mission to spread the word so that others will know of this risk.  (Hence this blog post.)

We're only using one
sneaker these days ...

All in all, while I certainly don't recommend you follow my lead and slide tandem, I think this has been more traumatic for me than Rhys.  I realize he probably won't remember this, but it's awful to think something you did injured your child.  Rhys has been a huge help to me on this front though.  The morning after the accident, he wouldn't put weight on his foot and instead resorted to crawling.  This broke my heart.  Rhys didn't seem to be concerned though.  At one point, he was literally crawling around laughing while I was watching him with tears in my eyes thinking that I had regressed my child!  (I'm pleased to report that he's now back to full-time walking.)

Through this all, I have been amazed by the way he's adapted and just gone with the flow: he woke up, his leg didn't seem to be working like it usually does, so he went back to crawling - no problem - he's resilient and he's still getting around.  I would also have thought he would've been a little more confused about the presence of this hard, heavy thing on his leg, but he doesn't spend too much time contemplating it.  He just goes about his day.  He's still got a whole world to discover and explore!

  

This experience has emphasized for me that our boy really doesn't waste too much time fretting.  He doesn't sweat the small stuff.  (And apparently in his world, a cast on half his leg qualifies as small stuff.)  I'm thinking I could take a page from his book.

So today's life lessons from Rhys and me: 1) Don't go down the slide with your child in your lap and 2) Don't waste time worrying over things you can't change.

We're all just living and learning here . . . this parenthood thing really can be educational.  :-)

Checking out the cast foot

Cruising on the cast