Wednesday, October 16, 2013

A Prayer

Zeke said the opening prayer in Primary last Sunday.  I happened to be there as the substitute pianist, and I got to hear him.  He stood up at the podium, shut his eyes tightly and folded his left arm on top of his cast arm.  This is what he said:

"Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for today.  Thank you for Zeke and Ben and Mom and Dad...(sigh)...and Lily.  Please bless me to get my cast off on the twenty-third and please bless me not to get another one.  And thank you that Jesus is always here to forgive us.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."


Saturday, October 12, 2013

Life is Unfair

It's hard to explain to a 4 year old that a full-arm cast is beneficial, or that life is not fair. Oh, well.


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Lost in the Middle

Did you know we have a middle child?  His name is Ben and he's very funny.  Here are some good quotes from last week:


Pig in a Blanket
    We had hotdogs wrapped in tortillas one night for dinner, one of Ben's favorites.  At one point I checked in with him and I saw he had pulled the hotdog out and was trying to get the tortilla wrapped around it again.  I asked what he was doing.  He said: 
"I take-ed it out of the blanket and now it's freezing hot."
Then he covered the hotdog with the tortilla and said:
"I put it back in the blanket and now it's nice and warm."
(Note:  The hotdog was fridge temperature.  I never heat hotdogs for them.  I don't like getting yelled at.)

Counting:
Ben:         Mom, what comes after eleventy?
Mom:       Eleventy?  Well, Eleventy-one, I guess.
Ben:         And then-?
Mom:       Eleventy-one, Eleventy-two, Eleventy-three...
Ben:          Eleventy-four!
Mom:       Yes, Eleventy-five-
Together:   Eleventy-six, Eleventy-seven, Elevnety-eight...
Mom:        Eleventy-niiiinnnnnne....(waiting)
Mom:        What comes next, Ben?

Ben:           Toodee!!

Mom:         Toodee?
Ben:           Yeah, Toodee!  Toodee-one, Toodee-two, Toodee-three ...
(Zeke's laughter drowns out the rest.  Not because the counting was bad, just because Ben said "Toodee-two.")

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Breaking News!

Zeke broke his right arm, and everyone is very sad, but mostly Zeke. And Tina.
The story of his injury depends on when he tells the story, but it generally goes like this:
We were at a park we don't go to very often.  It has a play structure that's a little bit taller than the stuff we see regularly.  He was playing with some other boys at the playground and someone was going to shoot him in the face with a missile, then he jumped/fell off the play structure. The place he jumped/fell from was about six feet above the ground - which was a nice, squishy AstroTurf.  He landed hard on his right hand and then the right side of his face and crumbled into a ball.
The break is a buckle break and is very common for small children.  He has a cast on for three weeks and will hopefully get it off on the 23rd.
Tina's conversation with the orthopedic doctor after getting the cast went as follows. 
Doctor:  Do you have any questions for me?
Tina:  Sure.  Can he go swimming?
Doctor (offended): No, you have to keep it dry.
Tina: Can we go to the park?
Doctor (slightly more concerned):  No.  No parks, no playgrounds, no climbing or jumping.  No sand and no dirt.
Tina (crestfallen): No sand?!  No dirt!?!  Can he ride his bike?
Doctor (looking incredulous): No.  No bikes or scooters or skateboards or roller skates.  None of that.
Tina (pleading):  Can he jump on the trampoline?
Doctor (firm):  No.  The idea is that he's going to rest for these three weeks.  Take it easy, let it heal.  Otherwise - well, we can always do a glow-in-the dark cast for Halloween.  
Tina (facing stark reality for the first time): What are we going to do? 

Don't worry, Tina made a paper chain to count down the days until we get the cast off.  And hopefully it will have healed, without shifting, so we don't need to wear a cast after that.