Broken bones and milestones

Fletcher broke his arm today at the mall. We were playing at the kid's court and he jumped off the giant basketball and hit his arm HARD on the basketball hoop. He broke it in two places! So he now has a bright orange cast for most of the summer. The doctor said it will be off for Disneyland in August, thank goodness. Please say prayers!!!

It was the most painful, sickening feeling I have ever had as a parent. He was standing there, poised at the top. I told him not to jump but I had that teasing, fun look I guess and didn't get up to physically take him off like I knew I should. That basketball is about four feet tall. It's a slide. He wasn't using it the way it was intended to be used. Who in the hell puts a four-foot-tall basketball in the freaking mall anyways?!?! So he jumps and he lands wrong and and he doesn't get up, just has this strange look on his face and the lady next to me says that's a broken arm. Same thing happened to my brother. That's a BAD break.

Of course I leapt to my feet of course I scooped him up and didn't know what to do, all the shopping bags and whatnot falling at my feet. Of course the lady told me to sit down and hold his arm still, was his arm hurt? I was so confused. Why was it flopping around there, his left arm, just flopping? And what is my husband's number at work and what hospital do you want him taken to and is he going into shock? Why isn't he crying and and and.... and it's all sort of a surreal blur. Except I remember the cell phone lady telling me, "Honey, I have two boys. He's four years old - this is when it starts. It's a milestone."

Ambulance time and I'm like, why isn't he more excited to ride an ambulance? But he's quiet, he's just so quiet. Hospital - x-rays, IV's, poked and prodded and still no tears. He is a virtuous saint. He is silent as a lamb and I'm holding it all together, not passing out, not screaming for some fucking pain medication for my son right now, he's only four years old!!! and I'm calm when Matt gets there and calm for the five hours it took to sedate him, set his arm, more x-rays, paperwork and more paperwork and etc.

And when it's over and he's ready to come home he asks the doctor why he cut off his Pirates of the Caribbean shirt? Because that was his favorite shirt and that wasn't very nice. And then he wants a Happy Meal. Just a Happy Meal. We would have given him the WORLD and he asks for a Happy Meal. That is my boy. So that is what he got. and when we got home and he ate and was propped up with a million pillows and I was in the kitchen getting him ice water I started crying and couldn't stop and even Gwen gave me a hug (she's really freaked out) and Matt gave me a hug and then Fletcher yelled, what's mom crying about now? So I stopped and then we played Star Wars. That's my Fletcher, that's my family.

He's really stoned on Tylenol 3 right now and walking around our house like a chicken, clucking. I think that means he'll be okay. He just came up to me and said, "Mom, this was the worst day ever because I broke my arm." And how.

Family Firsts

Fletcher has passed a major milestone kinda early, but with reflection, his sister did at his age as well - he has lost his first tooth! I wasn't really prepared for this - he's only four and a half! But I remember asking Gwen's dentist about it when she as a youngin' and he said that tooth loss was proportionate to when the child cut their first teeth. True or not, I'm not sure, but both my little buggers got their two bottom front teeth VERY early on, like at about 3 months of age - just AWESOME for the breastfeeding mom, let me tell ya.

Strange thing is, with all the inflation - groceries, gas, clothing, etc. - the going price for a lost tooth hasn't gone up in all the years since big sis Gwen lost her first one. Yup, the T.F. still leaves a bright and shiny 25 center under the ol' pillow. Twenty-five cents for that perfect little pearl of a baby tooth. My God, it was so small. Something so small to remind me how big my beautiful boy is getting. Matt said "It looks like a tiny chip off a regular tooth," and indeed he was right. Rolling it over in my hand I felt that strange trepidation a parent feels when you can sense the onset of the growing up of your little one. There is this sense of panic as you feel your child pulling away ever so slightly and really, Kindergarten isn't that far away and we all know school ruins a child for life. Ah, his babyhood is so far behind him now it's but a bright, warm blur. Fletcher seems to be straight-on truckin' through to big boy land before my very eyes and again, where's the pause button?

Matt has taught Fletch another amazing trick - to read two new words. And I am SO proud, not just because of the fact that my four and a half year old read two words to me today, but also because of the actual words: R2D2 and C3PO. Yes, my son loves Star Wars!!!! Woo Hoo! Well, he has for several years, but this, well, this is amazing and gratifying to me on SO many levels. BTW, you may be wondering what Gwen's first read-aloud word was (it was also the first word she learned to write, before her name, even: POOP. Yuppo, that's my girl.

Another family first: Thank to a GENEROUS offer from Grandpa Walt, the Family Banks is headed to Disney World!!!! Though Fletcher remains refreshingly oblivious (we aren't going till August and we didn't want to hear "are we going yet?" every day till then) our excitement is growing daily. Well, mine is, and obsessively so. It's true, I spend every spare minute at work googling every aspect of Disney Orlando I can possibly think of. And talking about it. All the time. To anyone who will listen. Yes, my co-workers hate me.

So. That is that. Be happy, readers, and wait for more Banks Family Firsts and Disney updates!!!