The cast glows in the dark

Gaby broke her arm last week. She was about 10 feet up on the monkey bars and fell, landing on her wrist. I wasn't there at the time, so I can't describe the scene in too much detail. Suffice it to say that it was a scary moment for everyone. Kristin, Sheila and both cousins were nearby and whisked Gaby off to the emergency room to be x-rayed immediately after the fall.



The doctors say that she has two greenstick fractures in her right wrist, one in her radius and one in her ulna. She had a cast put on Tuesday morning and she will have to wear it for about four weeks. To everyone's surprise and delight, the cast glows in the dark (!).

The strangest thing about the whole experience for me is that Gaby acts as if there is nothing wrong with her. She doesn't whine or complain about pain. She is not holding back at all physically. She is still running around, jumping on things and being generally reckless and wild. She doesn't even acknowledge the cast at all unless she absolutely has to, like when she is taking a bath and it must be kept dry. She is a very tough cookie.

Apparently another girl in her class at school happened to break her leg the same day, so there are two little girls running around her nursery school wearing casts. I guess it's nice that she can share the experience with someone...

I've also noticed that she has been using her left hand more and more readily now that her right one is incapacitated. We were doing some watercolor painting this weekend and she was painting lefty. It's amazing how adaptable you are at 3...

I'm Gaby!

Kristin has had the flu for the last few days, so I took the girls for the entire weekend. Its been a while since I've had so much concentrated time with them and it was really fun to see up close how they are developing and changing.

It should be no surprise to regular readers of this page that Gaby has a very strong sense of her own identity, but I can say it's stronger now than I've ever seen it. Earlier today we had this exchange while Gaby waited for her turn at the monkey bars at the playground.

"Okay Gabs, it's your turn." I said.
"I'm Gaby." She said somewhat matter-of-factly.
"I know." I said. "And its your turn. You want me to help you get up there?"
"You said Gabs." She said. "I'm Gaby."
"You don't want me to call you Gabs?" I asked.
"I'm Gaby."

Then again a few minutes later, I accidentally slipped into calling her "Gabbers". I forget precisely what the context was, but this time she was downright annoyed. She adopted the "I've had just about enough of this" tone of voice that she has learned from Kristin and me.

"I! Am! Gaby!" She said with an exaggerated frown, almost like she was giving me a warning.

"Okay, sorry Gaby" I had to say.

She managed to swing all the way across the monkey bars by herself today, which is amazing for someone not yet 3 years old. It's the first time I've seen it, but she didn't seem to think it was a big deal at all.

Sometimes when I am standing nearby, she will run over and actually climb up my body if I let her, grabbing my belt and climbing up on my back or shoulders.

The first picture is Gaby hanging upside down from the monkey bars. The ones below are from a nice walk we took today with Uncle Rick at the Lands End Park here.





Amazing how similar this shot looks to a great one of the Girls' cousins Mary and Abby at almost the same ages. I didn't even realize the similarity until uploading the picture. I accept the blame for the uncombed hair. There are some things that daddies just can't quite get the hang of...