Fall Soccer

The First Soccer Pic of the fall season...

are these guys handsome or what?!

Name that pasta

I shop at Costco. I buy pasta. It comes in a package with six bags - two each, of three different shapes of pasta.

I really don't pay much attention to what shape it is... who really cares? It all tastes the same.

The last time I bought pasta they had a new kind, labelled "capelletti". I don't speak Italian. I'm guessing it means "little caps" or something.

But there was something familiar looking about it. In a kind of funny... or odd... or disturbing way. I didn't make the connection until we opened the second bag, and then something in my memory clicked.


Does this pasta look familiar to you?


I don't want to be crude, but I'll give you a hint:

Parents of little boys who've had a certain "procedure" may catch the resemblance.

Polka Dots

If you're a bug person... or your kids are, there is a GREAT website for identifying bugs, or just browsing. I am amazed at the variety and the beauty. They may not seem beautiful when they are buzzing around me, but in close-up photos... yes, they're beautiful.


Check out this polka dot wasp moth!


The site is called What's That Bug.

Dis-gus-ting

No, not the little Pacific tree frogs. They're cute. But their eating habits...

Well, we had to release them because we just couldn't keep up with their appetite for flies. We ended up with three - Gunnar caught one at soccer practice, Tate caught one in the yard, and then caught a garter snake after church, in the parking lot, which I (being a completely unreasonable mom) refused to allow him to bring home in the van.

So he TRADED it to another boy for a frog. (Wonder what HIS mom said?!)

But our little frogs... SO cute. We were keeping them in a small fishbowl, because we still had a few spiders in the terrarium. I poked a few holes in a piece of wax paper and rubber-banded it over the top of the bowl. Let me just say that when the frogs started croaking, the whole contraption made a VERY interesting sound! Sort of like a frog kazoo. Still, they were hungry. And very small. I believe I've read that they can't eat anything bigger than their mouths.

That may be wrong.

Tate threw a crane-fly in the bowl, and the LITTLEST frog went for it. He got about half of it down (head first) and then started hopping around. His little front legs went up to his mouth and I thought he was going to pull it out, but - no - he was trying to shove it in. (Oh, I am SO COMPLETELY CONVINCED that this frog is a BOY!) He finally got the body down, but the back legs hung out for several minutes.

Wiggling.

That's when I knew the frogs had to go.

Sunday School Kids #2

Why can we trust God?

Because … and the wred says so when we are sad god makes us (happy face)
Because… the Bible says so!!
Because… He made the erth and he is pawrfl and made animls
Because… He’s all powerful, He’s real
Because… we know that Jeasase died for us!?
Because… helps us with are problems
Because… He made us!
Because… we know that he is always right.

Fictionary #7

In honor of our spider studies, below....

Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

Mr. Clean times 3

I’ve been thinking (for quite a long time) that I really should make the boys do more around the house. In fact, Kerry announced this to the boys recently, which prompted the creation of a large chart on the D.E. board which showed the Boy Happiness Quotient plummeting, while the chore line crept up. (They were lobbying for a later bedtime AND more “screen time”. Nice try.)

They’re certainly not asking for more chores. And – being males – they don’t generally notice things that need done and just DO them. (Well, Tate is an exception to that :0) ) But they are, generally willing to do things.

The boys make their beds, pick up their toys, deposit dirty laundry in the hamper, load and unload the dishwasher, sweep, vacuum, empty garbages and recycling, and do lots of jobs in the yard, so it’s not as if they are couch potatoes. But it was time to take it up a notch.

They are now official Bathroom Cleaners! (We are SO proud!) Actually, I’m kind of proud of me, too, because this has been one job it’s usually easier to just do myself and have it done RIGHT. But…

Let’s face it, with four bathrooms in the house, I get tired of cleaning them. And as the only one in the house who sits to pee, I’m not the one who is responsible for that disgusting aroma, so it was time for action.

For now, we have divided the responsibilities like this:
Gunnar (7) – empties the garbage, takes dirty towels to the hamper, and checks the TP supply
Tate (9) – moves items off the counter, cleans sinks and counters, and replaces items
Wyatt (12) – cleans the outside of the toilet and wipes the floor immediately around it
Mom – cleans the inside of the toilet (bowl) and does the showers, as necessary

There! Is that more information than you ever wanted about us?!

I may lose my appetite... naaah

Last night we were joined at the dinner table by our arachnids. Because dinner just isn't complete if you're eating alone... right? Don't YOU eat with creatures in jars on the table?

We've been learning quite a bit, and I know you're just waiting on pins and needles, to find out more about spiders, so let me share our observations with you!

1. Spiders can be divided very roughly into two groups - web builders and non-web builders. HA! You were going to say poisonous and non-poisonous, but that's not it. They're pretty much all poisonous, but not so you'd notice. Most of them either can't bite through your skin, or their poison is too weak (or in too small an amount) to bother you. At least where we live. So we've been using the very non-technical names of "web spiders" and "jumping spiders", for the ones we catch. Web spiders usually stay on their web, so if you find a spider that is NOT on a web, it probably isn't going to make one. And it's probably watching you.

2. Web spiders don't see very well. They do not chase bugs that fly right in front of them. They don't NEED to see well because they make a big sticky web. When a bug gets stuck in the web and panics, the web vibrates and.... you know what happens next.

3. Jumping spiders see pretty well and move pretty fast. Sometimes they actually pounce.

4. The first two jumping spiders we caught, we carelessly put into the same jar.

Then we had one.

Then we got more jars.

5. It is FUN to watch spiders hunt! Especially for three boys. Which is why the jars of spiders were on the dinner table. Because we just didn't want to miss any of the carnivorous action.


Having exhausted the fly population in the compost bin (the frog was quite hungry, apparently), the boys have started catching crane flies.

Well, to be honest, TATE catches the crane flies. Gunnar is hampered by his brace (and his size... short), and Wyatt is just a wee bit squeamish. Tate tries to reason with him, ("C'mon Wyatt! They're just crane flies! They can't bite or sting or anything! They don't even EAT!"), but to no avail. Wyatt can't stand the fluttery feeling.

Tate is right, by the way. Adult crane flies don't bite, sting, or eat. They mate, lay eggs, and die. The larva eat... your grass roots. Um, the roots of your grass. Yuck. Anyway...

One of our web spiders and one of our non-web "jumping" spiders really REALLY like crane flies! We put the "jumping" spider in a small jar, threw in a crane fly, and the spider lifted his front legs up over his head and went right for it. A few minutes later there were just a few legs and the wings in the bottom of the jar. So they threw in another crane fly. And the spider went for it again. More carnage.

A couple of our spiders weren't really doing much of anything, so the boys decided to put them in together with Mr. Carnivore, just to see what would happen. Hmmmm, they all pretty much stayed as far apart as possible while we were watching. But Mr. C must've recovered his appetite in the night, because the other two were dead this morning.

When they tossed a crane fly in to the web builder, the boys got to see "her" (probably) pounce, bite, and wrap her victim. Twice. (Two crane flies.)

Then I found this link to jumping spider courting behavior. Turn up your volume and click HERE. But set down your beverage and go potty first, that's all I'm saying.

Calvinism... ha ha

And now, for a word from our sponsor...

My favorite philosopher ;0)

Homeschooling is percolating along. This week we have begun an experiment that involves growing 6 different (we hope) kinds of mold. We’ve also dug up and brought into the house 5 earthworms, which are living (we really hope!) in one of a pair of philodendrons, to see which one will grow better – the plant with worms, or the plant without worms.

Because these experiments will take time to develop, we’ve also begun a study of spiders. (I guess Aunt Tami won’t be visiting any time soon… sorry!). The boys managed to catch, in very short order, 4 web-building spiders. We are trying them in different living conditions, to see what they like, and how they deal with their webs and prey. They also caught 3 jumping spiders and are enjoying watching them hunt. Gruesome, but fascinating.

Good thing we started the worm-compost bin, because it has an accessory purpose of being a great source of flies, to feed the spiders.

Then Gunnar caught a little tree frog at the end of soccer practice, so “he” (who knows?) is living in the fishbowl. He is also a fun hunter to watch. Tate threw something in there – a large fruit fly or a small mosquito, it didn’t last long enough for me to get a good look at it.

Me, I’m glad we’re grazing higher on the food chain.

Sunday School Kids #1

I've taught Sunday School, on and off. Most recently I taught a class of 7-9 year olds. I liked to start the class by giving them each a 3x5 card and putting a question on the board for them to answer, anonymously if they wished. If I remember, I'll post a question and a set of answers for the next few Sundays... just for fun. Un-edited :0)


What does it mean to worship God?

Worshiping God is singing to him, reading the Bible and talking about God.
Sing, to honnor, thank
It means to like pray and to sing to him.
To worship him
To pray
To sing to him and pray and give him glory in lots of ways like reading the bible every day.
To honor him to praise

Seeds

It always seems like my boys grow the fastest over the summer. Must be the fresh air and sunshine... though we've had precious little of that this summer!

Reminds me of this... by Rebecca Wyss













MY CHILDREN ARE LIKE SEEDS

My children are like seeds,
given to me in unmarked envelopes.
I sprinkle them with love
and daily let them shine in the sun.
Their roots are well grounded,
and their shoots are many.
I do not know yet when they will bloom,
or what their flowers will be.

Give me grace... #4

Moms like to praise their kids, and I am no exception. One of my kids has to work harder than the others, so it's just possible I talk about him a little more ;0) So, picking up a trail I dropped a couple weeks ago, let me tell you a little about getting Tate's diagnosis...

Tate didn't get diagnosed until he was 3 and a half, because he seemed to hear and speak normally. (Apparently he missed the introduction of newborn screening in the hospital by a few months.)

Well, he didn't hear normally, but his communication was pretty darn good. He is, in fact, ferociously tenacious. I have been told by various specialists that they’ve met very few people that do as much as he does with the level of hearing he has.

Before his Audiologist would order HA’s, she retested him repeatedly, because nobody thought he could have “that loss” and communicate as well as he did. When I first had him assessed (at age 3) by the local school district his scores were amazing.

Red Alert - Bragging Mom Moment:

His lowest score was a 42nd percentile, for articulation (pre-HA’s), and ranged up through a 63rd percentile for Grammatical Morphemes, and a whopping 91st percentile for vocabulary. Overall, 77th percentile. Scored against normal hearing peers.

Like many Deaf/Hoh kids, he struggled with learning to read. So much so that it was added to his IEP by 1st grade. But that boy is a worker. By the end of 2nd grade his teacher told me he had aced every level for which they’re willing to test 2nd graders.

Yes. Have mercy on me, I am really proud of Tate. :0)


But here's my real plea for grace...

In all my 'bragging' about him and how well I think he is doing, I'm not comparing him against you, your child, or anyone else. I don't for one minute think that anyone else, who is struggling, is somehow 'just not trying hard enough'.

We've all got enough on our plates without adding resentment, so please, please, don't "hear" that from me :0)

Fictionary #5 and #6

These two had to go together...

Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

and

Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

Soggy

Yes, that's how I feel, SOGGY. What with all the rain we had in August I was hoping for crisp clear fall days.

Not so much. What we have is 54F and rain, rain, and more rain.

I am VERY proud of the grasshoppers...

We had FOUR soccer games today, from 9:15 to 3:30, and I have three very soggy boys. No, there are no pictures, because the folding chair, water-bottles, snacks, rain-coats, car-keys and umbrella were all I could manage!

Wyatt's team played the #1 team in their league (I think they are ranked 5th) and tied. More importantly, they played really WELL. Of course, the skill level has gotten pretty high at this age, but it's a new deal this year with three teams coming together to form this team, so the boys are really re-learning some of the teamwork :0)

Gunnar's team, still the little guys, played four 15 minute games. Of course, we don't officially keep score, but... they might have tied one, and I'm pretty sure they won 3. Gunnar has made a LOT of progress since last year - he actually goes after the ball! Woo-hoo! He still likes to play defense, but he played forward some too.

Tate's team had two games today, and what a day for it. UGH! I was surprised that with a double-header they were scheduled to play two of the stronger teams in the league. They tied the first and lost the second, 3-4, but truly outplayed the other team, who got a couple of lucky goals. Again, winning isn't what it's all about... it's good to see the team 'gelling' (sp?!) Tate played almost the entire two hours in pouring rain and never complained once.

Oh my goodness it is good to be back to my warm, dry house, and warm, dry clothes, and a delicious smell in the air. Can I just say that I love my crockpot?!

TLAPD

I can't believe I almost missed my chance to remind everyone that today is

Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Yes, it comes around every September 19. This is your chance to use words like ahoy, avast, aye, grog, smartly, and bilge rat.

AARRRRGGGGGGGH!


Get more ideas from Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket.

I am so ready to MOVE!

Where I live, we average about 35 inches of rain a year (for comparison, nearby Seattle gets about 37.) That may not sound like much, but a ski area nearby recently set a world record for the most snowfall in one year. 1140 inches.

Yes, that’s right, 1140. Do the math, people, that is almost 100 FEET of snow. In. One. Year. Snow that conveniently melts in the warmer months of spring and summer, filling our lakes and rivers.

That is not why I am ready to move. I am used to this damp environment. I am used to the fact that there will always be more moss than grass in my lawn. I am used to huddling under an umbrella to watch my boys play soccer. I am used to precipitation, and a lot of it. And where I live, people can tell the difference between mist, “mizzle”, sprinkle, drizzle, shower, rain, rainfall, rainstorm, downpour, pouring rain, pelting rain, driving rain, cloudburst, thunderstorm, deluge, monsoon, torrent, and the ever-popular raining cats and dogs. But no, that is not why I want to move. I’m just making the point that this is a wet environment.

Yet my liberal Enviro-Nazi neighbor took it upon herself to call the city water department and COMPLAIN ABOUT US yesterday because in watering our bushes (it’s actually been dry here for a few weeks, which is typical at this time of year) we allowed some water to run out into the street.

Oh the horror!

All five of us were at home. We noticed the water running into the street and turned it off. But still, about an hour later, we got a visit from an embarrassed and apologetic city employee.

Was there a problem? No.
Could he see a problem? No.
Was there any visible water? No.
Is there a water shortage we’re not aware of? No.
Has it suddenly become illegal to water our lawn or plants? No.

He left.

If I had gathered my wits more quickly, I would’ve invited him inside and asked him to get his supervisor on the phone. (Ah, sadly, I think of this stuff too late!)

I would like the supervisor to think this through. They are encouraging wackos, like my neighbor, to act like Nazi informers. And what a waste of the taxpayer’s (MY) money… sending a city employee to my house to tell me to turn off a hose, that is already off?!?

Would it have killed the Environmental Wacko across the street to walk over here, knock on my door, and ask me to turn off the water? No.

Have I ever been unfriendly to her? (Okay, I just called her an Environmental Wacko… but besides that…) No.

Do I act or appear threatening? Again, no.

*sigh*

That’s just how Liberals are.

Fictionary #4

Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a**.

It's just so simple

SNL explains how to solve the financial problem. Click HERE. Thanks to Waxing Mundane, for the link :0)

Financial. Lock. Down.

Oh, we were wrong about the 4Runner.
The mechanic called this morning.
It's not going to be $1200.
It's going to be $2400.

Well, RAT SALAD!

Last one... I promise

Really, I promise, these are the last vacation pics... from this trip.

Diablo Lake

When you REALLY want to get away from it all...

Lincoln Rock State Park

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH :0)

Hanging on to the memories...

Just a few more vacation pics and then I'll let go and move on :0)

I have become a cliche...

Soccer. Mom.

And a passé cliché, at that. I mean, hockey moms are all the rage these days ;-)

But good golly miss molly, we’ve made a big leap from the lazy unstructured days of summer, right into homeschool, soccer (6-7 practices a week, and 3-4 hours of games on Saturdays), and AWANA. I realized this, as I dropped Gunnar off at Sparks, and had 15 minutes to get over and pick up Wyatt at the end of his practice, leaving about an hour to make and serve dinner (Top Ramen, anyone?) before returning for Gunnar. In my red mini-van.

Of course, Tate and Gunnar have practices at the same time, on the same evenings… at different fields. Kerry can usually help me out with this, but I got a troubling phone call from him, 15 minutes before practice, that his ever-reliable 4Runner had broken down. Badly. He had already called the mechanic, held his cel phone out the window as he tried to start the engine, and was told NOT to do THAT any more, but to call a tow truck! (Don’t you love the tech world?!)

So not only are we down to one vehicle, (which is not so bad), but the repair of the other will come at a price of about $1200.

Furthermore, Tate has been saying “Whaaat?” a lot lately. Could be just that his cold is affecting his hearing, but it’s about time to schedule another Audiogram anyway.

On top of this, I have been sick, which always makes everything look oh-so-rosy.

And as soon as I think of another reason to whine, you’ll be the first to know about it.

*sigh*

Brace yourselves… soccer pics, coming soon, to a blog near you.

Tate's Chicken

Maybe I'll get Kerry to scan in a couple of old pics, because this was in The Days Before The Digital Camera...

While we were on the camping trip, that now lives in history as "Our Dam Vacation", we ended up in Winthrop over Labor Day Weekend. Winthrop is up in the mountains, in Washington (state), and is a 'wild west' town. They have rodeos. Real ones. So we went.

They had all the usual rodeo stuff - barrel racing, calf roping, bucking bronco riding (or whatever you call that!), and..... (ta daa!) all-comers KID'S EVENTS! The winners of the Stick Horse Race got giant belt buckles. That was not us. Then they had the Chicken Chase. They had all the kids come into the enclosed rodeo arena and then released a bunch of chickens - you catch it, you keep it!

I had no idea chickens were so fast and agile, and those farm kids were snagging them pretty quickly. About the time I thought it was all over, Tate came out of the fray with a pretty orange chicken tucked under his arm. She calmed right down once he got a snug grip on her, and Tate - my animal lover - was enthralled. He wanted to bring her home and keep her as a pet. In the house.

I had a 'policy' that there would be no pets in the house until everyone was out of diapers, and we weren't quite there yet, but I negotiated with Tate.

#1 A chicken is not a house pet.
#2 The chicken would be easy prey for the dogs and raccoons that frequent our neighborhood.
#3 There was no way under the sun that the chicken was riding home in my new-to-us minivan, so
#4 If the chicken left the rodeo grounds with us it's name would be Teriyaki (!)
#5 If Tate would graciously give the chicken to some farm kids, I would let him choose a pet more compatible with our lifestyle.

That's how we ended up with a hamster..... named Chicken.

Inside the dam

Beautiful grounds outside - see the giant turbine and the flower flag? :0)



And inside, besides all the 'dam information' and lots of hands-on activities for the kids, an exhibit of Nez Perce artifacts and information.

No, we're not doing any homeschooling while we're on vacation ;)

Fish Ladder

For real... not something out of Dr. Seuss :0)

Fish have to be able to get past dams to get up to their spawning grounds. Although it was not the time of year for a big 'run', there were several fish coming through the ladder while we watched.

The view from outside ---------------->


And from below...

I have to say that the last picture kind of gives me the creeps... looks like the fish is watching US!

Our Dam Vacation... Remix

Years ago we had a family camping trip that took in Grand Coulee Dam. In fact, we ended up seeing - I think - NINE dams, coming and going. It was a memorable trip, for a lot of reasons. The boys were obsessed with tumbleweeds, Tate won a chicken at a rodeo, and we saw more dust devils that we could count. But what really stuck in our memories was the boys' innocent overuse of word 'dam'. You know... as we waited for a guide, "When is the dam person coming, mom?" (Chuckles from the rest of the crowd.) Or, later, "I really liked the dam tour!" Kinda took on a life of its own :0)

Well, this camping trip wasn't really planned for dams, but we saw quite a few!

The top two pics are below and above the dam by the campground - Rocky Reach Dam.

The middle pic is on up the Columbia - don't have my map handy to remember the name.

The bottom two are at Diablo and Ross Lakes.

Whaaaaat?

Oh, my Tater-bug. He works SO hard to listen, and to make sense out of what he hears. I’m usually amazed at how much he gets RIGHT, and we’re sometimes amused at what got garbled. Fortunately he is NOT, at this point, self-conscious about getting clarification. Oh no, if anything we need to work more on being gracious in self-advocating!

I’d love it if he would repeat back what he thought he heard, so I could sort out the error without repeating everything, but sometimes what he thought he heard actually makes sense. In some weird way.

Like my grandma. Her parents came over from Sweden and – at least when she was small – spoke Swedish at home. As a little girl, her English had some “holes”. She laughed about the hymns they sang at church, like “Ask a sailor to help you…” (Go Navy?) or “Have a chocolate Jesus…” (Better than a bunny at Easter!) Okay, if you aren’t familiar… “Ask the Savior to help you” and “Have a talk with Jesus”. But my personal favorite was her classic: “Bringing in the sheets, bringing in the sheets, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheets.”

Yup, those American Christians apparently take their laundry seriously!

Fictionary #3

Just for fun...

Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

Dude.

TA-DAA

Since starting the blog I’ve been happily surprised to meet several other Deaf/Hoh moms, and moms of Deaf/HoH kids. Yah!

I read all kinds of things that are news to me (you women are so smart), and sometimes what I read reminds me of something I think I ought to write down.

So, here’s one little life-simplifying tip:

GET A NOTEBOOK

Yes, an actual notebook that holds paper. A three-ring binder. You can dress it up if you like :0) Put some blank paper (for taking notes) and dividers into it, and take it to every appointment. With your questions written down :0)

Get your own copies of every test done on your kiddo,

the actual test results as well as the interpretation,

every set of ‘appointment notes’ they write,

and the advice and suggestions you get from the specialists. 

I ask for them right then and there, and I also ask to have them mailed to me, because they usually dictate or write up their notes later in more detail. Each office will usually have on file where they are supposed to send copies of everything (your pediatrician, family doctor, school, whatever) – put yourself first on that list!

My “Tate-file” has turned into TWO notebooks. The first has sections for the different offices/hospitals we interact with regularly – Children’s Hospital, a local ENT, and the local university (where we get his routine audiograms done). I also have a “Resources” section in that notebook, and HA info/documentation (warranty, model #s, etc.) On the divider pages I have taped business cards and contact info for the doctors and audios.

I used to have a “School” section, but that has become the second notebook. Those IEP’s are huge! And I don’t need to bring them to every visit :0)

This has saved huge amounts of time and hassle. If I’m meeting with the ENT at Children’s and she wants to know how his last Audiogram went at the university (and she hasn’t received it yet…) I can whip out my notebook, make a photocopy, and we don’t have to try to get anyone on the phone and wait for a fax to be sent.

Voila!

All right, all you smarty pants. You are probably already doing this (!) but maybe it will help someone :0)

On the dry side

Well, we had quite a few cool rainy days this summer. So I decided we would go ahead and 'bank' some school days, and then take a week off later.

We did.

We spent the last week here.

<-----------------------------

It was GREAT!


Kerry will have to get the pics downloaded. The boys are brown like little nuts from swimming and running around all day in the sun :0)

We went from a wet coastal climate to a very arid climate. From mountains to 'scablands'. We saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of acres of orchards (mostly apples). We crossed a major mountain range - twice. We swam in the river - very important to our state for irrigation, power production, and recreation. We saw several dams, and toured one. The boys especially loved the fish ladder. We decided not to set up "tent-zilla" and slept right out under the stars. We found the Big Dipper, the North Star (Polaris), Cassiopeia (Wyatt's favorite, because it makes a "W"!), and watched satellites, shooting stars, the space station, and even the Northern Lights! We played "Go Fish", "Mexican Train", and alphabet games. We caught caterpillars, grasshoppers, and little tiny fish. We made S'Mores every single night! We met lots of different people, visited friends that live near the park, and really enjoyed camping with our homeschooling friends for the first three days.


So, NO, if you're asking, we didn't do ANY homeschooling, (*wink*), we were just having fun all week long!


Here's the campsite as we began to unpack...
------------------->

Bucket Fraction?

That is the arm Gunnar broke, falling off the monkey bars.
Three. Days. Ago.

Yes, a conscientious mom would've been "on" it. But "Zena, Queen of the Testosterzone", said, "Oh, honey, it'll feel better in a little while."

To be fair, we were a bit distracted by the blood pouring from his nose... which was ultimately easier to treat. And there was no visible swelling or bruising. (Maybe I'm not a completely negligent mom.)

So, here we are, after x-rays and a doctor visit, on our way to soccer practice. (Yes, our Doc approved.) Gunnar loves his brace. He calls it a cast. It probably feels a lot better to have the wrist immobilized.


If you're a medical-type person, you may have figured out the somewhat obscure title to this post. That is Gunnar's somewhat mangled description of a "Distal Radial Buckle Fracture". Fortunately, a very minor break.

When our Doc popped out with "Distal Radial Buckle Fracture" I had a brief moment of suspicion that this was an invented term doctors use to A) Sound impressive and wise, and B) Placate the Mom before sending everyone home with a lollipop and a pat on the head. But, on Googling it, I read this:
* This x-ray shows a "buckle" or "Torus" fracture of the radius (forearm).
* This fracture is most common in children between the ages of 5 and 11.
* Typically, the child reports having fallen onto his or her outstretched hand.
* The main clue to diagnosis is pain that persists longer than a couple hours, especially if the child does not want to use the arm.

Yep. We were four for four. (And I thought he just didn't want to do his schoolwork.)

Thank God for modern medicine, bodies that heal, and an injury that didn't involve a growth plate!