CAST FREE!!!

Huzzah! No more cast! Mom picked me up a little early from school to go get the cast off :) Surprisingly, they took us right in. That doesn't happen too often there! But I did get to see mom's physical therapist and she remembered me and asked what happened to my arm.

Mom told me the saw wouldn't hurt my arm, but that it would tickle. I bet her that it wouldn't tickle...

The saw looked a little intimidating!



But the tech showed me on her own arm that it wouldn't cut me. She also said that it would just tickle.



And it's off!



My wrist and elbow were a little stiff and my skin is VERY dry, but otherwise it felt great to have it off! They came in and took me for a follow up x-ray to make sure the bone is healed. A few minutes later, the doctor came in and said that it was all PERFECTLY healed! To the point that I don't even need a brace now!

He did have my cast cut down (so it covers my forearm only and not my elbow) and told me I had to wear it for my birthday party this weekend - no sense in falling and getting hurt again. They put tape around the edges so it's not sharp and gave us a bandage to wrap it with to keep it on. No jungle gyms, playgrounds, or bikes for a week, but then I should be ok :) I told mom that was ok - I could wait another week no big deal. I'm allowed to go to soccer class next week, though, so that's a good thing!

After the doctor, we went to the new Wegman's to get some cupcakes to take to school tomorrow :) It just opened on Sunday and has been too crowded, but mom figured at 3pm on a Thursday it wouldn't be so bad and she was right! We picked out the cupcakes and got food for dinner and then went home.

Mom had some more work to do, so I got to watch a TV show. She sat down with me and I rested my arm on my brother - I told her it was pretty comfy :)



After dinner, mom and dad let me open my birthday gifts from Aunt Terry - thought we might spread out the birthday festivities a little! I was SO excited!



An AWESOME decorate your own jewelry box! It's my favorite colors and has three of my favorite things - jewels, stickers, and glitter glue!



And a princess jewelry set! Mom even said that I could wear the earrings :)





I told mom I want to wear the ring to school tomorrow and she agreed (since it's for my birthday celebration and all).

I got to take a LONG bath in mom's tub tonight - we put some oatmeal stuff in the tub and I just soaked for a while. It felt really good on my arm and I was really glad to be able to get my arm wet again. After the bath, we covered my arm in lotion, so hopefully my skin won't be so dry in the morning.

Two more sleeps until I am FIVE!!! Can you tell I'm excited???

Last night with the cast!

Hooray! Tomorrow afternoon can't come soon enough :) I get my cast off and will get a removable brace. It's got to be better than the cast! Mom and I have a list of questions for the doctor - my only two are:

1. Can I play on the playground? and
2. Can I play in gym class?

I'm hoping he says yes! And mom said I can take a nice, long bath in the big tub tomorrow night. I do miss my regular baths!



Last weekend was fun - I had my second dance class and really enjoyed it. We start class with tap, then switch to ballet. I'm so glad mom finally found a class for me to take! And hopefully I can go back to soccer class next week as well (haven't been able to go with the cast on). After dance, we went to the DC United game. As always, we had a blast. DC tied the game, which isn't bad for them this season.



School is going well so far. We're a few weeks in and I'm enjoying it a lot. We started getting homework last week and I actually enjoy doing that, too. It's been pretty easy so far, but I have a feeling it will get more challenging as the year goes on.

I'm also really looking forward to my birthday on Saturday!!! I'm so excited to turn FIVE!

Thank you, Maureen, for the awesome games! They really are challenging and I've really enjoyed playing them!



Hopefully the next entry will be with a cast free left arm!

Big Sister Class

I was complaining that my cast was rough and was scratching me, so mom found some of my old baby leg warmers and used one to cover my cast. Perfect!!! I'm also loving wearing mommy's t-shirts to bed (they're easier to get over my arm / head than my pj's are). Pretty funny looking, huh?



Mommy and I went to a Big Sister class at the hospital tonight. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot! I'm definitely ready for my brother, but am being patient waiting for him to come.

We got to practice changing the baby's diaper (though I've already told mom and dad that I'll help them get diapers, but won't actually *change* a diaper). 

We talked a lot about things that babies do and how I can play with the baby.  I had a lot of good ideas for the class. We got to watch a fun movie about becoming an older sibling. We even got to color a picture for the new baby and the teacher gave us each a really nice teddy bear. Mom thinks it's supposed to be for me to give to the baby, but I told her that the teacher told us the bears were for the older siblings, so I'm sleeping with the bear tonight :) 

After the movie, we got to take a nice tour of the Mother Baby suites at the hospital. I got to see the room that mom will be in (or one like it, at least). We even learned that the rooms have DVD players, so when I go to visit mom, I can maybe watch a movie if we take one. I think it helped answer some of my questions to actually be able to see where my brother will be born (and where I was born, too!) Hopefully he'll be able to stay in the room with mom rather than going to the NICU! But I'm at least a little less apprehensive about mom being in the hospital now that I've had a chance to actually see where she'll be! 

Roughly 86 days to go (not that mom's counting or anything...).

After the class, we stopped for dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger. I made a map of Treasure Island while we waited for our food. 

I even got an Oreo milkshake for dessert :) A good night indeed!

Visit to Grammy's

We had such a fun day on Saturday visiting with Grammy, Grampy, Aunt Laurie, Uncle Dan, and my cousin Kaylee! Daddy got back late Thursday after being at his sales meeting all week, so we had a little down time on Friday, then went to visit Grammy's Bay house on Saturday.

I of course couldn't go swimming, but I had a ton of fun anyway. Grammy had lots of toys for me to play with, including a play kitchen with all sorts of play food! I made everyone some yummy meals and desserts :) I also got to play frisbee with Kaylee and her friend Gavin. We also had some Dominoes, Jenga blocks, and little cars to play with. I definitely wasn't bored!

After lunch, we walked down to the water. The tide was up, so we couldn't walk too far along the beach, but we could stand and watch some of the boats and kids swimming.



Daddy taught me how to skip rocks, but it was difficult because the water was pretty rough.



I really enjoyed getting piggy back rides from Kaylee!



Aunt Laurie helped me try to build a Domino tower as tall as me. We didn't quite get it as tall as me, but we tried!



Cousins.



It was a HOT day and I got super duper sweaty and gross, but it was so much fun!

We left after dinner to drive home. I put on my pj's before we left and mom let me play with her iPad to keep me awake. With about a half hour to go, I handed it back to mom and fell asleep. Dad carried me in and put me right into bed. I slept pretty well for about half the night, but then got up and started itching - I had so many bug bites! I kept mom up, but we both took a nice nap on Sunday afternoon. I hate naps most days, but I didn't complain this time! 

New Cast

I wasn't supposed to get my cast on until Tuesday, but when mom picked me up at school the other day, the top half of my splint had come unwrapped. And later that evening, the bottom half came undone. She managed to get it wrapped back up, but wasn't convinced the splint would last through the weekend. My doctor got me in this afternoon to put the cast on.

I did a great job waiting in the lobby and drew a picture while we were there.



The doctor wasn't running too late (it's pretty typical to wait for an hour here - mom would know as she's spent a lot of time here in the past year!) Turns out that the doctor treating my arm is the same doctor who operated on her foot :) The nurses were all very nice as usual and I was being a goofball. I've recently learned to cross my eyes and to whistle, both of which are driving mom CRAZY!



One of the nurses cut my splint off and cleaned my arm so they could cast it. I picked pink, of course! It didn't take too long, but it was pretty sticky. After she got the cast on, it got a little warm, but then it cooled off and it was hard and protected my arm. We were good to go! I get it off in 3 weeks and then get a brace to wear after that. Needless to say, mom's going to be a nervous wreck for my birthday party if I fall on my left hand (I get the cast off 2 days before my birthday).



I was TIRED by the time we left, so I took a little snooze in the car. We've been keeping my butterfly pillow in mom's car for me to rest my arm on - it works pretty well!



Anyway, I like the cast much better than the splint. My fingers are a little more free and it's hard, so I don't (I mean mom doesn't) have to worry as much about it coming apart. And of course, the best part is that it's pink :)

Thank goodness the weather is nice, because I have to wear shirts with bigger arm openings. I've been wearing mom's t-shirts to sleep in and that works pretty well. Fingers crossed for a good night sleep! Tonight's the first night with no Motrin, so we'll see how that goes...

Consequences

I had a great second day of Kindergarten as well. It's really not so different for me because it's at the same school I've been going to for the past year and a half and I already know the kids and teachers (though the Kindergarten teachers are new this semester). We worked on our time capsules again today - apparently the bags we started yesterday were just the beginning and the teachers are having us draw pictures and put different objects in the bags. Then we'll open it on the 100th Day (It's *One* Hundredth Day, not *Hundredth* Day as mom said earlier today).

I slept pretty well again last night and told mom my arm didn't hurt this morning. I didn't want any Motrin, nor did I want my sling. Mom packed it in my backpack anyway, but I think she knew I wasn't going to use it. She told my teachers and the director to call her if I seemed to be in pain at all during the day, but they didn't have to call her.

We went out to dinner to celebrate Ruthie's birthday tonight. We went to Cava, a Greek restaurant that I've been to before. I'm still going through a picky eating phase (which drives mom nuts) where I won't eat things that I used to love and sometimes only will eat a few bites, even though I complain that I'm hungry. Of course, I only ate a few bites of my dinner tonight. Then I asked mom if I could have a dessert for Ruthie's birthday, but she told me no since I hadn't eaten dinner. That's the rule - no dinner = no dessert. I started crying and had a hard time stopping, so mom took me to the bathroom to calm down. I told her I didn't like the consequences tonight...

I calmed down and we said goodbye to our friends. In the car on the way home, I told mom that my heart had broken into four pieces and was going to stay that way until I was an adult. She said that made her sad and we talked about choices and consequences. We agreed that it was my choice to not eat dinner and the consequence was to not get dessert. I thought about it for a while and told mom that if she didn't want my heart to stay broken that she might want to choose a different consequence for me. I think I'm sharpening my negotiating skills :)

First Day of Kindergarten!

I survived the night with my splint on and was only in a little pain this morning. Mom and I found a dress that would fit over the splint, but I was cold, so wanted to wear leggings and socks too.



We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a special first day of school breakfast. I got a Boston Cream donut and an apple juice - yummy! I ate it in the car and had a very chocolatey face by the time we got to school :)

We found my new cubby at school and met one of my new teachers (mom can't remember how to spell their names, though). Mom said she'd be back to pick me up if she could get me in to see the orthopedist.

I had a great day! I knew almost everyone in my class and am now in a class with some of the older kids from last year (there are only a few of us who are 4, but turning 5 before the end of the year - the rest are already 5). My favorite part of the day was making the time capsule. We'll open it on the 100th day of school! I wasn't very specific in talking to mom, but I told her I put my name in a bag. I guess we'll see!

Mom did come back to get me a little early. We saw Dr. Witte (the one who operated on her foot!) and he confirmed the break. He said that since I was able to sleep with the splint on, he wants to wait a week to put the cast on. Said this splint would allow for swelling and would be less painful for me if we wait. It should be a quick healing process with a cast for only 3 weeks. He said he'd give me a brace to wear for my birthday party so I could still bounce away. Huzzah! And I don't *have* to use the sling if I don't want to, so I was happy about that - it's a pain and didn't stay put easily. Not to mention it made it significantly more difficult to get in and out of my car seat!



We went to our favorite sushi restaurant for dinner to celebrate a good first day :) Then mom and I had to figure out a way to take a bath. We managed to get me clean and keep my arm dry, but it was hard for mom to bend over the tub with her belly in the way! My brother's growing too much! At least we've somewhat figured out how to get the bath done, though we may end up doing baths every other day until the cast comes off!

Hopefully I'll have more to report about school tomorrow!