2 year old with a broken arm - Page 3

BinkyKat · 10-07-2007, 10:58 AM

You're a great mom!!! A bad one wouldn't have taken the little guy in

I broke my arm in two places on the big bone of my left arm when I was 5. My mom for some reason thinks to this day the neighbor girl was too rough with me, but several of us kids were playing in their kiddy pool...I tried to do a cartwheel in the water. I remember my hands slipping and somehow pretzelling my arms and snap!

I don't remember the pain. I guess Mom says I was cradling my arm and it was swollen so she took me in. I remember coming completely unglued in the ER but laying still during the casting. They had to have given me some happy pills or something...Mom doesn't remember.
Things happen fast, kids goof around. I have never broken any bones since and hope I never do. Since I was so young, I thankfully have no recollection of the pain...the itching inside the gawdawful plaster cast and the funny floaty feeling my arm had after it came of I still remember tho.

I guess my dh says he fell out of his crib once, all was fine but later his mom picked him up and he hollered. Somehow he cracked his collar bone. Nowadays I think his parents would have been strung up by their toes even though he was precotious and a climbing monkey (still is), it's sad that we have to live with so much fear about injuries kids get on their own or by total innocent accident.
Hope the little sprout heals fast and feels good. Mine happened on the 4th of July, I remember eating lots of popsicles, but was sad because I had to stay inside that night and missed the fireworks.

eta: a boy from across the street, a few years later and a couple years younger than me (I think three at the time) broke both his legs jumping down his basement steps on a dare. The moms in the neighborhood say his goofy brother for pushing him, but this kid has been a daredevil his whole life. Saturday evenings you were pretty much guaranteed a show of him running naked from his house because he wouldn't take a bath. I wonder what became of him...that would be a good story for a girlfriend...lol

projectgal · 10-07-2007, 10:11 PM

My 3 year old broke his left femur a few weeks ago. These things happen, and it's not your fault. But don't you want to just put them in a plastic bubble for a while?

My guy's cast is from his rib cage to his ankle on the left side and to his knee on the right. I've found there is a big difference between concern and curiousity. I'm starting to just ignore or avoid the curious ones.

One of the first things I did was find an alternative to the wheel chair they gave us at the hospital. I use a jogging stroller (other strollers are too narrow) so that we can travel incognito. Maybe you could cover the cast with a sweatshirt or hoodie, at least when you are not in the mood to answer questions?

One thing that annoys me the most is people who come up to him and make this pathetic face. For the most part, he forgets he's immobilized from the waist down and has done a great job just making the most of it. But when people make this horrible face at him, he thinks there is something wrong and gets sad.

Just like we have a list of stupid things people say to knitters, we need to make a list of stupid comments to kids with broken bones or other medical issues. My friend's story can start the list...

I have a friend whose daughter needed a liver transplant from a birth defect. Her little girl did look pretty sick and people would stop and ask what was wrong. One person even had the nerve to ask if they had ever heard of an organ transplant list! I think I would have kicked the lady!

stitchwitch · 10-07-2007, 11:49 PM

Yeah but don't you think it's kind of normal to see a baby in half a body cast and feel sorry for them? I think the sad face probably mimics what they feel for him. It's not normal to see a child hurt and be all happy, happy, joy, joy about it.

HeatherFeather · 10-08-2007, 12:29 AM

I think all of us would have a story or two to tell about our active kids...and exactly right.....let THEM lead the way!! But no jumping off buildings please!!!

phooie on "those people" that gave you funky looks.....

forgive yourself....

Leeseebat · 10-08-2007, 12:58 AM

aw i hope your little guy is back to himself soon!

i just had to add a story of a friend of the family...my mom's best friend has two boys and my mom has two girls...oddly enough us youngests are the ones always getting hurt! He was playing football with a local team when he was 6 (and one of the biggest kids on the team) and the smallest kid on the team (yes his own team) fell on him and broke his leg. His mom's a er nurse and got lots of teasing at the er for that one.

as my mom always said while patching me up, kids are kids.

feel better soon!

PurlyGyrl · 10-08-2007, 02:21 PM

Hugz to you and

to Logan's arm. Don't let it get you down--and poop on those people who give you hard time!

Kaydee · 10-08-2007, 02:23 PM

Aw, sorry to hear about your little guy's arm...he sounds like a trooper though. Don't worry, you did nothing wrong. Its unrealistic to be right there next to your child at every second of the day. Besides if you were always right up there with him he wouldn't grow up to be a self suficient adult.

marykz · 10-08-2007, 03:43 PM

don't beat yourself up!!! kids are so active and always pushing their boundaries... Kayleigh broke hers this summer right infront of the camp counselor. she was literally standing right there and K just fell wrong... we found out when school started that 2 of her friends also broke their arms over the summer time.

but he will heal quickly. K was completely healed in 8 weeks. cast came off after 4.

(for the cast- we covered it with those plastic bread bags or newspaper bags so she could take a bath or play in the sand box etc. or do a messy craft. )

she got really tired of telling everyone how she broke it! but she got free cookies from just about every restaurant/ coffee shop we went to this summer.
hang in there,

iza · 10-08-2007, 04:11 PM

Chrissy, don't be too hard on yourself. It's impossible for you or for any mom to control everything! You can be the best mom in the world, be there 24/7 for your child, but nevertheless, little accidents WILL occur. Learning how to deal with these things is also part of growing up!

knitasha · 10-08-2007, 05:00 PM

Aren't you letting your own self-criticism
color your impression of what other people are thinking? I would bet that most of them aren't focusing on you and your "neglect" at all -- just feeling sympathy for you and Logan.
Or thinking "cute kid with a red cast."

Sounds as though he's handling all this better than you are. Short of confining him to a plastic bubble, you can't protect your boy from everything. Even if you could, you'd be raising a person incapable of dealing with the realities of the world. Breaking a bone is one of the least awful things that can happen to an active, adventurous child -- a rite of passage, if you will. The bone will be stronger than ever in less time than you think, and he'll be back at the playground figuring out new ways to make you anxious. During the healing period, let him do things for himself with his LEFT hand. He sounds like a kid who would enjoy the challenge. And meanwhile, cut yourself some slack.