New school, screw swallowing, and arms breaking, oh my!
Twelve days into 2009 and it has been…well, uh… interesting to say the least. Stressful is probably a better word to describe my last twelve days.
Starting the new year was stressful to begin with due to switching my kids from a small private school to our very large parish school. It has been a roller coaster of emotions (mostly for me! Kids are so resilient) but my kids are adjusting better than I expected.
But, let’s back up to New Year’s Day when my three year old swallowed a screw. I’m redecorating her room so there were screws and nails out of her reach but not out of my seven and eight year old’s. I would never imagine they would pop a screw in her mouth and use tools from a toy veterinary kit to pretend they are dentists removing teeth.
Oh yes they did!
My toddler ended up swallowing said screw. Fortunately it was the kind that didn’t have a pointy end. I called the exchange and was instructed that as long as she could eat and drink and was not in any acute distress then we should let it pass on its own. I checked her poop for 8 days and never did find the screw. We are pretty sure she swallowed it considering that I had three screws and we can only find two in addition to two witnesses. I must have missed it and since she’s not having any discomfort we are assuming it made its way out.
The real excitement in my house though was my 10 year old breaking both bones in both wrists. She fell while wearing those damn Heely shoes. I swore I would never buy them but I caved out of guilt for moving my kids to a new school and during a moment of weakness caused by mommy exhaustion.
Of course my girls swore they would be extra careful and wear padding but my oldest broke all rules and wore them to dance class where she fell in the parking lot. A piece of salt must have gotten in the wheel because she recalls her wheel just stopping and her flying forward. That is all she can recall from the fall and was going into shock by the time I got to her dance school. There were no witnesses to her fall. Based on how she broke her bones in a downward manner we are assuming she fell on the back of her hands and her body rolled over them. Basically she fell hard. Very hard.
Both of her arms are now in casts above her elbows. Typically when someone breaks both arms one is wrapped in a long cast and the other in a short cast so there is more mobility but she was not a candidate for that due to the severity of her fractures.
So here we are nearly a week in and she is holding up better than me. She has such a positive attitude and is so resilient. She has figured out how to feed herself and can write with a pencil. Me? I’m exhausted. Four kids, one a toddler and another with broken wrists is enough to earn me a week long spa retreat or an admission to the psyche ward.
As for the Heelys. I despise them even more than I did prior to buying them. My biggest beef is that they look like athletic shoes and are sold in shoe stores which gives a false sense that they are safer than other footwear on rollers.
At least with skates and roller blades they are often kept in the garage along with protective gear. Heelys can be worn with or without the wheel which means your kid will wear them other places than just at home and can pop the wheel in and roll around without protective gear and your watchful eye. This is what happened in my situation. My daughter had her Heelys on with the wheel in when I dropped her off at dance. I didn’t even notice that she walked into dance with them because she was not rolling on them at that time. With a lack of good judgement and protective gear she later rolled out into the parking lot where she met her fate with a grain of rock salt.
The moral of this story?
If you choose to buy your children Heelys be sure to also buy protective gear. Most importantly a helmet and wrist guards. Have a discussion with your children about where they can and cannot wear the shoes with the wheel and their consequence if they choose to Heel where they are not allowed or fail to wear protective gear.
Personally my kids have been banned from wearing Heelys and they agree with my decision.
Thank you so much for all your emails and well wishes!
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