Third Strike..You're Out!!

My poor little guy. He had a rough day yesterday, which is why I failed to post my Thursday 13. Well, that and the fact that my Internet provider was experiencing some technical difficulties following a wicked thunderstorm.

But let's get back to the boy, shall we?

When the hubby and I got to the daycare to pick him up we found out one of his daycare playmates had attempted to strangle him. It had taken his big brother's interference to set him free. Big brother lost his m&m over the incident because there is no fighting at daycare. However, mom and dad both gave him "atta boys" because that's what brothers are supposed to do: stand up for and protect each other.

So that was strike one for the little fella.

Strike two occurred at home while playing basketball with his brother. This hurt didn't last very long, but it got them both in trouble.

Ten minutes later they were at it again. This time they were wrestling in the living room (a huge no-no) while I'm finishing up a phone call from the office. I no more than hung up the phone and turned off my computer, which still wasn't able to access the Internet, when I heard crying and screaming. I must admit I didn't rush in there to comfort the injured party. I stormed in there yelling at them about knocking it off and don't they know they're not supposed to be wrestling in the house. After checking out the little guy's arm and finding no hint of an injury, I sent them both to bed, telling the little one to dry it up.

He didn't. In fact, the crying lasted for almost an hour. He cried through his bath. He cried while trying to get dressed..we finally left his shirt half-on half-off. He cried while I called the doctor. He cried through Tylenol and ice. He cried and he cried and he cried. Finally, I decided the ice and the Tylenol weren't doing the job and I was going to take him to the After-Hours Clinic.

I'm happy to say the tears finally subsided during the 20 minute drive to the clinic. He even did pretty well during the doctor's manipulation of his injured arm. He also did well during the x-rays and hardly winced while they put the sling on his arm. Overall I'd say we had minimal whining.

The x-rays were inconclusive, though, which is why I'm at home this morning waiting for my doctor's office to open. Maybe he'll be able to tell if the little guy's elbow has been dislocated. The x-rays the Clinic physician sent home with me show that things aren't lined up quite right, but the doctor admitted to me that he wasn't a specialist and children's x-rays are very difficult to read. He actually told me he doubted my family doctor would be able to definitively diagnose the issue based on the two films. We'll see.

I'd like to say after we got home from the Clinic that the rest of my night was quiet and peaceful and blissfully restorative. Instead, I was awakened from a very solid sleep around 3:30 this morning by a tearful six-year-old. His arm hurt. After dosing him with Tylenol yet again and grabbing a fresh ice bag, I tried putting him back to bed. His sobs made that impossible. We ended up in the living room, sleeping upright in a recliner. When my discomfort became too much to bear, I finally moved him to the couch where he ended up spending the rest of the night.

This morning I thought we'd at least get an extra hour of sleep, but his arm woke him up bright and early. So much for sleeping in. I guess the only up-side to being up with so few hours of sleep is that I'm already clean and I have time for breakfast.

I'll update you later on the family doc's diagnosis.