Boot free trick or treating...

Bella was able to come out of her boot yesterday. I'm happy, but at the same time so very nervous. Now she has this fragile little ankle with just a tiny brace on it, and is doing who knows what at school. I guess that's a mom's job, to worry. :) She was SOOO happy this morning to hop on a swing when she got to school - I think swinging is her favorite thing on the playground, and not being able to do it has probably been her biggest complaint with the broken ankle. So she was one happy kid this morning.

She's not discharged from her doctor yet, we go back in two more weeks for a final xray, and if that looks good that she can return to gymnastics and dance completely (something I know she's itching to do). I know we'll have to do follow up xrays every few months for the next few years to monitor the growth plate, but hopefully everything will be just fine.

We had quite a bit of Halloween fun around here this past weekend - we hosted a Halloween party for her friends from her dance group and on Sunday we took part in the Trunk or Treat hosted by her former preschool. I think she enjoys the trunk or treat more then the real trick or treating, and I think I do as well. It just has more of a small town community feeling. I think it's always a highlight for all of us.

A few pictures of the weekend fun... Her good buddy Kevin had this adorable shark costume from Pottery Barn. Having just caught an old episode of Saturday Night Live, I could not get the whole Land Shark skit out of my head.

Slow Saturday

We are doing a whole lot of nothing today, which is a nice change from our usually very busy Saturdays. We had a very unexpected visitor this morning...

Now, for most people a frog is probably not all that exciting. But I have literally not seen a frog in Phoenix since I was about eight years old on my grandparents farm. No idea where he came from, but we had Rick fish him out and set him free (Bella's wish to keep him as a pet was flatly ignored). He was here long enough for her to name him Hoppy (original, I know LOL).

It remains a challenge to keep Bella entertained while she's stuck in her boot, but this afternoon dress up seems to be keeping her somewhat amused. She's been a rock star, a geisha, and now a witch. I honestly don't even recall buying a witches costume, but I think it was probably a post Halloween item...



I must say the green (Jalepeno Pepper by Benjamin Moore) we painted our living room works quite well with Halloween decor and I think will be pretty fun with Christmas as well (and no, I did not pick the color just for holiday decorating, and I think Rick actually picked it). I have to give him decorating props on the color, because a few months after he picked it, it showed up as one of Pottery Barn's new colors. Who knew he had such a design vision? :)

Catching Up

Bella has been doing really well with her boot. Maybe even too well, she's constantly jumping, hopping, skipping and leaping on it, and pretty much completely stressing her parents out. I'm happy she's not in any pain, but just worry that she won't heal correctly. But, we went in for xrays on Thursday, and everything looked good. She may be out of the boot by Halloween. We go back on the 27th, and they will xray and decide then.

In the meantime we've been trying to keep her busy. If I ever thought that Bella doing eight hours of dance and gymnastics a week was too much for her, I was wrong. She has SO much energy and need to move, and it's amazing how not being able to get that energy out has affected her behavior in general. We've had quite the challenging and defiant week around here. Sigh...

Her gymnastics coach suggested she come in on Thursday for a modified work out, and it went very well, and it was obvious that she was so happy to be there. On Friday, her former dance teacher invited her to come 'assist' her with two classes. She had such a blast, and it was a nice way to break up a day off from school. I have to admit it made me a little sad to watch the little two year old ballerinas dancing in that room, because it seems like Bella was their size only yesterday.

Our friends and family have been really awesome at trying to cheer Bella up and come up with things for her to do. Our dear friends the Johnson Family sent over the most amazing package filled with a number of things for her to do. Markers, coloring books, a movie and even a build a bear that she had a great time putting together with Rick.

Tomorrow she's back at school, and I can play catch up from her "fall break". It's really amazing how many breaks the schools have. I think she still has three early dismissal days and another day off this month. Normally it would be great, as the weather is faublous (yippie - fall is HERE!) but with the boot we are limited in what we can do. So we've been doing a LOT of fall arts and crafts and Bella has logged probably more time then she should on starfall.com. But we are hopefully halfway through her time in the boot. :) And hey, it beats a cast, so I really can't complain.

Bella and her boot...

She's such a trooper

I've said it before and I'll say it again - that kid of mine is such a trooper.

Fortunately Bella's ankle fracture is what is known as a Salter Harris I fracture. This is extremely good news. The radiologist's report said she had a probable Salter I/Salter III fracture. Salter III's often require surgery, so it was a huge relief to rule that out. Because the fracture is in the growth plate, we will have to monitor it with xrays a few times a year, for a few years. Hopefully there will not be any issues, and her growth will continue as normal. I'm trying not to worry about the long term issues too much, as I will probably drive myself crazy if I do.

Another blessing is that she was not put in a cast, but in a boot. It can only be removed for bathing, but somehow it just seems so much better then a cast. She was able to walk on it right away, and I think she's only complained about it once all day. She did so well that we are letting her return to school tomorrow. I'm nervous about it - because she is not letting the boot slow her down at all, and she probably should take it easy, just a little bit. I've talked to the nurse and her teacher, and I think she'll do fine. I hope that kids are kind to her and nobody makes her feel self concious about it. While she's very tough and outgoing, she's also very sensitive. No idea right now how long she'll have to wear the boot for, we return in a week for them to xray it, and hopefully will have a better idea at that time.

The sense of relief is tremendous. It could have been so much worse. It's been an adrenaline filled few days - in a matter of 48 hours we had to deal with a possible concussion and a broken ankle. I'd like to take the rest of the week off from injuries pretty please! We are trying to come up with some alternate activities for her for the next month - she has every bit as much energy as usual, which is a lot. :)