A Tragedy in Three Parts

Part One: Kix, Tweezers, Surprise!

Thursday was a crazy day. Summer session of preschool ended on Tuesday, and the Z-Monster has been going a little stir crazy. All day he picked on his sisters and looked for trouble.

Finally, Thursday afternoon I got the girls happily entertained by a bowl of Kix cereal, and was playing with the Z-Monster, trying to work off some of his excess energy. I periodically glanced at the girls to make sure they weren't throwing Kix on the floor, choking, or fighting. None of the above (well maybe a little Kix throwing) was in the works. I admit that I had joyous visions of a peaceful happy orderly afternoon to come. HAHA.

Suddenly Didi let out an earsplitting shriek. You see, what I failed to notice, was that Didi was paying a little too much attention to her nose. Upon investigation, I discovered a Kix wedged almost out of sight up her nose. So, I went to fetch the tweezers, and proceeded to perform a Kix extrication, which, considering Didi's current state of mind (scared out of her wits) was extremely difficult, complicated, and required all my attention.

The Kix was shoved up so high in Didis nose that I could just see a little round yellowish bump when I looked up her nose. I stuck the tweezers in and made a hole in the part I could see, and then grabbed the inside and outside of the Kix and PULLED on it. Didi fought and screamed and grabbed at her face, my hands, the tweezers, ANYTHING; so I finally wound up essentially sitting on her.

But finally the offending bite of cereal was rmoved and thrown away. Didi was very traumatized, and needed lots of cuddles and love to help her feel better.

Just as Didi was starting to feel like the world will indeed go on turning, the Z-Monster called out from the dining room. "Mommy! I 'prize you!!" And then, he dashed into the living room, singing his very own fanfare. "Dah-da-DAH!!!" and made a sweeping gesture to encompass his entire body.

Part Two: Paint, Paint, and Paint Again!

the Z-Monster had discovered the tempera paints, and managed to open three of the sealed bottles. He was covered in purple, green, and orange paint from head to toe. He then proudly revealed to me his artwork on the shoe bench and buffet. (picture will be coming if I have a chance to get it off the camera).

Horrified, I quickly planted the girls in front of a movie and hauled the Z-Monster upstairs for a bath. After thoroughly scrubbing him down (I actually washed his clothes in the tub too), I hauled him out of the tub, and back downstairs. After providing a damp rag, I set the Z-Monster to work cleaning the paint off of the bench while I hopped into the kitchen to throw a frozen pizza in the oven.

About three minutes later, I emerged from the kitchen to discover the Z-Monster had climbed up and retrieved the paint, re-opened it, and had re-painted himself, plus added artwork to the walls and doors. Soooo . . . back into the tub he went.

the Z-Monster was quite upset about needing another bath, after all, I had JUST washed his hair and all of him! This time around he decided to push the limits, and before too long (despite my MANY warnings) he slipped and fell, and hit his head on the bottom of the bathtub, and his stitches started to bleed again. GRRR.

The day finally ended with the kids in bed, stomachs filled with burnt pizza, the paint cleaned up, and my own resolution to get a babysitter the next day.

Part Three: When I said I needed a break, this isn't what I meant!

A friend of mine does daycare in her home, and was kind enough to take my kids on Friday, so I could make some progress. The day progressed relatively uneventfully, and then it was time to pick the kids up and head to Dublin to pick Sven up from work.

On the way out the door from K's house, my shoe went kaput, and I went down, hard, holding Didi. I landed just about as wrong as wrong could be, except that Didi didn't get hurt at all, so I did something right, at least.

My leg started swelling up right away, and it got one lump on it that stuck out and was purple. K's husband drove me to the ER while K watched my kids until Sven could beg a ride home off a co-worker. At this point, I was pretty sure that I had broken my leg, I'd heard a pretty sharp snap when I went down.

Eventually they got me x-rayed, and sent a Dr. in to look at it. The x-rays didn't show any breaks, but the Dr. still thought that my leg looked broken, so she sent me back to radiology to get a few more shots at a different angle, just to be sure. Still no breaks. (What a relief!)

After ruling out a broken bone, another doctor came in and poked and prodded, and asked questions about how I fell, and manipulated my leg (I would have kicked him, but that would have hurt worse). He declared that I had Severely sprained and strained both my knee and my ankle, and pretty much everything in between, plus banged things up really well- but that nothing was torn.

So- I can't walk, but I should be able to in about two weeks. Just what I needed. Right?

Just another boring day in the life of . . .