Mommy Detective

I have often compared being a mom with being a detective. We moms are often called upon to figure out and treat a myriad of mysterious illnesses, physical and emotional.

I got to flex my mommy muscles this weekend.

My little one, Marie, was walking hand in hand with a toddler buddy when they both stumbled and fell to the ground. She erupted in hysterical crying while the other girl got up and walked away. Marie kept on and on and on crying. I saw the fall, it was not bad. They were not running.

Another mom offered me ice for her arm, which she was holding.

"No thanks," I said, "she'll be fine." Inside I'm thinking "stop crying already!"

As soon as we got in the car she said, "I need to go to bed" and promptly fell asleep. At home, she insisted on going right to bed, which she did.

Hmmm... I thought, that is strange.

On my way to pick up my other daughter from swim lessons I started thinking,

"Isn't that a sign of shock?" and the inevitable MOMMY PANIC set in. Every mommy knows what I'm talking about. It is like a flip that gets switched and you are sure your kid is going to die and somehow it will be all your fault.

But upon seeing her awake, grumpy and in pain, my reasonable, wait and see, self reasserted itself. I concluded that we should wait until the morning to see how she was. You know, there is not much worse than going to the ER and having your kid tell the doctor he feels "just fine!" (after throwing up in the car and then down my back as I carried him) AAAggg!

But, the next morning, little Marie was trailing her useless arm around, and I knew we had to take her in. ER, X-rays, doctors.

Long story short? Fractured wrist, cast, orthopedist.....bleah.

Poor little thing doesn't understand that she can't just take it off. She keep saying, "Mommy, I'm ready to take off my bandage now." Then she proceeds to get really mad at me for not letting her take it off (as if she could). She doesn't quite understand the concept of immobilization.

However she did enjoy all the attention she got at church.