(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message ...
Somehow we got through 9 years of raising boys with no broken bones.
Then last summer Ryan broke his finger. Well, Matthew decided to
do something about our low bone-break-count. He cracked/buckled
a total of 4 bones in his forearms! (In each forearm, right near the
wrist, the larger of the two bones is buckled and the smaller one is
cracked.)

So, now he is in 2 (temporary, for now) casts, each going from his hand
to above the elbow, and he can't do anything for himself. For at least
6 weeks. Give us strength! He can't get either hand close enough to
his mouth to feed himself. He currently can't write at all, but I am
hopeful that the permanent casts will allow enough finger flexibility
for him to hold a pencil.


Serious bummer. Like you, I was recently knocking wood that I had yet
to be in an emergency room in my 10 full years of parenting, but that
ended with a child shutting another child's hand in the sliding door
of the minivan by accident. It WAS an accident, I was watching and saw
the whole dreadful thing happen. We got a striped pink and purple
cast. It's lovely. YOu can request multi-colored ones, and one sample
at our children's hospital was a delightful plaid. :-)


If you have a child who might be prone to do so, tell him/her that when
climbing a baseball backstop, it is *not* actually a good idea to turn
around and try to climb down with your back to the fence so you can see
where you're going better. :-O


We'll keep that in mind. Although I *think* my kids are beyond
climbing on backstops, one was on the roof of the train station
recently until spotted by a neighbor who threatened to call the
police. You gotta wonder just WHAT they are thinking!

As for feeding oneself, there are always chicken nuggets and other
large chunk food, which can be eaten right from the plate, doggie
style. And one of my kids has perfected eating with a fork between her
toes, so you might want to try that out. It's disgusting but
fascinating, in a weird way.

Marjorie