Humpty Dumpty

I needed to post this after the soccer post.

Soccer picture day, as I mentioned before, was FREEZING.  Andy took Lucy to dance class, so I had the other three.  Toby was throwing a tantrum by the end of the game and I was exasperated by the time we got home.

Andy pulled in right behind us.  Caleb jumped out of the car and ran to the grass to kick the soccer ball with Andy.  As I was getting Nellie out of the car Andy asked Caleb to throw his straw, that he had thrown in the bushes, away.  He dashed over and just wiped out.  Andy was right next to him and I was just walking out of the garage and saw the whole thing.  He immediately looked up and said he broke it.  Although he had a long sleeve shirt on, his arm just didn't look straight and Andy and I knew we needed to take him in immediately.

We were worried on how to transport him but we put a blanket under his arm for support and lifted him into the car.  Andy was going to take him, but Toby wanted him to stay.    Being able to see that a bone is broken has always been one of my nightmares so I was quite worried about going in.  Caleb was in hysterics in the car.  He was so worried about his broken arm.  I told him it might not be broken, although I never believe it. When we arrived at the hospital, I brought out a wheel chair to bring him in.  The doctor carried him to the scale and to the hospital bed.  The hospital has a separate children's emergency room so the doctor was quite good working with kids.  The nurse was nice, but I didn't feel she had the same way with kids.  They decided to give him an IV of morphine to help with his pain.  She came up to him and said they were going to put a needle in him to make him feel better. He FREAKED.  I had to smooth things over a bit before he wanted to sit still for the IV.  Once it was in he did not move his right arm until it was removed.  I had to scratch his nose, eyebrows, help get his legs untingly etc. because he didn't move a muscle the rest of the time we were at the hospital.  I always tell the kids that I hate it when they are sick, but I like that I get a little extra snuggle time with them.  I told him that I wished the bed was bigger (they were really small since it was the children's wing) so I could get in with him.  He told me that I wouldn't have been able to anyway because he had too much medical stuff on him.

He was lucky that he could stay in the same room/bed the whole time.  They brought an x-ray machine into the room.  I helped to hold the board under his arm and then on his side.  One nurse said she glanced at the x-ray and thought she did not see a break. It was the tip of the one bone was completely broken off and wedged next to where it should be connected (B in the photo).

Because Caleb had a snack after the game, they had to wait until at least 4:00 before they could give him any anesthesia.  Andy was able to come to the hospital after Grandma and Aunt Emily came to the house.  He arrived right about 4:30 and then the orthopedic surgeon arrived to the emergency room to reset his arm. They sedated him, but he was still conscious. It only took about 20 minutes for him to set his arm.  When we arrived back in the room the traction equipment and dust was still in the room, which was a little scary for me.  It took Caleb a while to come out of the anesthesia.  I decided he is my medical boy...he was born via c-section, has had 3 surgeries and how a broken arm.  I think he was a little more shaky than his last surgery   He really wanted to eat or drink because he had not really eaten since breakfast (neither had I), but he was not allowed to until the anesthesia wore off.  They mentioned a popsicle but then he couldn't eat it for a half hour.  He was crying for it.  I don't know that I have ever seen him so happy when they finally brought it for him.  Finally we were able to go home.  He had a huge dinner of a half a piece of bread and went to bed. 

He barely moved the whole next day.  But by Monday, with a lot of prodding from Mom and Dad, he started doing some things for himself.  It was the first day that Caleb every went to school pick up.  He was so excited to show off his arm. Tuesday he surprised us with even more independence and was begging to go to school, but they were off on Wednesday.  

I think he was the most excited for the attention he was going to get.  He thought it was awesome that everyone at school asked him how he broke his arm.  The teacher let him get in front of the class to tell everyone at once what happened. 

We see the doctor again on Monday and he might get his plaster cast and he can get it signed.

Soccer

This is a little belated, especially since one of the seasons is already over (more on that later).  Caleb and Lucy started September 8th.  Everyone in the house was excited.  Uniforms were put on before breakfast, including Toby's. Lucy is in ballet right after the games, so we have had to take two cars.  Andy or I leave and take Lucy while the other stays to watch Caleb's game. 

Caleb was nervous about starting soccer because I tried to show him how to dribble the soccer ball, but he had a great time.  He is a little goof on the field, playing around with his teammates and even the kids on the other teams.  He is pretty good at kicking too.  He has gotten a few goals and assists in each game.

Lucy has no problems with self esteem and thinks she is the best soccer player in the world. She loves playing and has gotten multiple goals in every game.

I think that Toby might have been more excited for soccer to start than Caleb and Lucy.  He was counting down the days all week (because I told him he could not wear his uniform until that day).  He played on the sidelines and cheered on the kids.  Whenever he hears Andy or I cheer he chimes right in.

The first game is the first time that Nellie ever wore real jeans.  They were a little more constricting than she was used to so she was falling a lot, but she was quite determined with the soccer ball...and pretty good.  She has a bit of an ego too I guess, because she keeps sneaking on the field to get into the mob of children following the ball.

 
 The first two games were nice out and the third was FREEZING. It was picture day so we were there an hour early.  We had seen these semi-embarrassing but totally awesome umbrellas at one of Caleb's football games this summer.  It was 100 degrees outside...we were boiling...they were cool, or at least semi-cool. We decided to protect us during the soccer season. We brought it last Saturday and it was AWESOME. Everyone else was freezing because of the wind, but I was actually getting hot with the sun beating down on us.  It is big enough that the whole family can sit comfortably in, but Nellie and Toby enjoyed having the space to run around in.

Spiderman Party

We were going to have a birthday party for Caleb last summer, but life with a newborn got in the way.  Needless to say, we have been planning this for over a year.  (Not concrete planning, Jaime, but we knew we would have it).

We did not initially think of the Spiderman theme, but once we decided on it, it was easy and fun to plan.

When I saw his paper mache that he made (the same day as I made the watering can for Nellie's party) I thought it looked like Spiderman's head and we decided to make it a Spiderman pinata for the party. (Caleb's is the one right in front of Toby). We painted it red.  We cut out eye shapes out of aluminum foil and carefully cut electrical tape to secure them on.  Lastly, we used a permanent marker to make the  web design.

We have a Wilton Spiderman cake pan, which we have used for the last 4 of his birthdays. Last years was probably my worst one, but this one might have been my best.

We scoured the internet for find Spiderman games.  Most games we found were party games with a Spiderman twist.  We made a list of different games, but Caleb could not decide on his favorites.
Musical webs, beanbag toss (each target different character assigned points), pin the spider on the web, hot Spiderman(hot potato with a Spiderman doll).  We thought it was okay to over plan, but I did warn him that we would not get to them all.

I really wanted something more authentic, like climbing walls, but it seemed unattainable.  I always loved the getting dressed relay (where one teammate puts oversized clothes over in their clothes, runs to the next player and passes the clothes onto them and so on) and thought it fit in with the theme since Peter Parker wears his costume under his clothes and needs to get dressed or undressed quickly.  Andy was not a fan and his influence put it on the bottom of Caleb's list.  After Caleb's birthday, the kids were playing with Caleb's skateboard and when they laid on their stomach, I said they looked like Spiderman climbing the wall.  I said this would be the perfect transition between teammates in the getting dressed relay and Caleb was on board.

Caleb counted down the days to his party.  He could not wait!

While we waited for everyone to come, the boys just played around.  After a while, we decided to start with our photo booth since we didn't have everyone there.  I thought they would get more into the pictures, but I think they will still shy since it was the beginning of the party. We passed around a few Spiderman books so people could get some ideas of cool moves.  I created a backdrop from a Spiderman sheet we had.  I wish I had made it on the ground because almost every kid did something close to the ground. We printed a picture of each kid and included it in their thank you note.

 

Caleb decided to play "hot Spiderman" next, to the theme song.

Next we did the dressing relay, which I think was one of the hits of the party.  We were laughing so hard and the kids had a great time.  Toby doing the skateboard in the costume really looked like Spiderman climbing the walls.  It was awesome.

Then we did the pinata.  We used Caleb's Spiderman sleeping mask so they could not see where they were hitting.  We had been worried that the paper mache was not going to be thick enough to last very long.  I had originally thought it was fine if it busted on the first hit, because the fun is getting the prizes.  When all the kids were lined up, I started to worry that they would be sad if they didn't get to bat.  One downward swing did pull it off the rope, but we retied it on and every kid got to hit and Caleb, on his second turn, busted it open.  It was perfect.

 

 

Next we did cake and presents.

Then we had our surprise silly string fight.  They had a blast.  The best part was when all their cans were empty, Margaret who had been chased when she didn't have a can, took a can and got them all back.

Caleb decided that he just wanted to run around and not play any more party games and so that is how we ended the day.  It is amazing how fast and exhausting 2 hours can be.

When I asked Caleb if the party was as fun as he thought it would be, he said that it was even better.  It made my day.  I think/hope the other kids had as much fun. On the first day of school, on of the dad's said his son was still talking about the Spiderman party.