Austin's Last Day of "School"

Austin's teachers his first year of "school." (This is the best and only photo worth sharing from that day.)

Cast video

Here's a little video showing that Austin was definitely On The Move toward the end of his time in the full-leg cast. It's very short as I couldn't get him to stay still any longer! He just kept flying through the room!

"He broke it."

Everywhere I go right now, I get the question "What happened to his leg?" This, of course, is a fairly understandable question given that my 18 month old has a huge blue cast on his left leg. However, I don't know exactly how to respond. I usually just say "He broke it." and keep moving. But, that seems obvious, right? I mean, why else would he be wearing a cast!?!? Sometimes Usually, what I am really thinking is "He broke it, dummy."

Seth informs me that what people are really asking is how he broke his leg. They want a story. They want to know a piece of our history. They want to connect with us. Seth has explained this fact about southern folk to me many times, and yet I still struggle with it. I mean, I understand friends asking for the story. "Friends" defined as people we see regularly, meet with on some occasional basis, have something in common with, something. Even knowing their name would be a step in the right direction! 

The stranger in the grocery store, the other stranger at the restaurant we happen to be eating at, the other stranger we pass at church... These people are not my friend. By definition, they are strangers. Why do they want to know how my son broke his leg? They want to "connect" with someone they've never met and will likely never see again!? Seth tells me that the answer they are looking for involves an explanation. Something that would be carried out in a paragraph format. Not a one-liner. (He dislikes when I give the one-line answers to strangers.)

In addition to disliking that people want me to share my personal business with them (and the fact that they seem to have no qualms about asking sensitive/personal questions of complete strangers!), why don't they ask the correct question? I mean, if "How did he break his leg?" is the question they want answered, why aren't they asking it!? We have never once been asked that, though. They simply ask "What happened to his leg?" That question, in my honest opinion, is a different answer than what they are actually looking for. At least, what they are looking for according to my husband.

Besides, I don't want to stop and give each person that sees the cast an explanation. (If Seth and I are together when we get the question, he stops to address it and I keep moving.) Can't these people see I have my hands full here with a toddler in a full-leg cast!? The last thing I want to do at this moment is to sit and connect with a perfect stranger about my son's broken leg. Additionally, it's a bit of a complicated story. I can't simply respond with "He fell out of a truck and broke it." I could respond with "He sat down and broke his leg in the process." But I'm afraid that would evoke more questions from people, and I don't want to be standing here answering the first one, let alone a string of MORE questions.

If my "He broke it." answer leaves the person clearly dissatisfied, I'll sometimes add "It's called a Toddler's Fracture. Google it." Or I'll add "He cracked his tibia." I rarely go into the story of how it happened. I might say "It's not a very exciting story, just a broken leg." and then will pull myself away from them. Because even though Seth (and others) has explained to me that this is southern peoples' way of being polite, I can't come to see it that way. I would NEVER ask a stranger about something they are eating or wearing or doing or whatever. I don't go up to people in casts and ask them how they broke their bone. I don't ask wheelchair-bound people what put them there. I don't ask the super-pregnant lady when she's due or what she's having. 

I would, however, allow any of the above to cut in front of me in line or hold the door for them. Something useful, not intrusive. It conveys that I see their situation but asks no questions. It might even convey sympathy. They don't owe me any information and my asking about it might be a bother to them like it would be to me. (That, I think, is the North/South difference in a nutshell.) Plus, I don't care when Stranger Lady is due or what she's having. I don't mean that in an ugly way. I just simply don't. care. It doesn't impact my life one way or another, so why would I seek the information?

So, do me a favor? Just once? The next time you're prompted to ask the-lady-with-casted-toddler in-tow what happened, opt instead to simply hold the door for her. I'm sure that she will appreciate it more than a single question about what happened.  And for those about to give me a lecture about social graces and being polite to everyone, including strangers, or remind me how much I love Emily Post, etc. Save it. I assure you that my sweet southern husband has tried. I can't do it. I won't do it. I can't become a complete southerner. WE won the war, you know. ;-) Besides, I always make sure to say it with a smile and twinkle in my eye. Right before I turn and keep walking.

Oh, and the story about Austin's leg? It really is quite boring. Here it is:

He was walking around in our walk-in closet which has shaggy-type carpet (the only place in the house where we have that kind). He stubbed his right toe on the carpet (he was still wearing his shoes), stepped over to the right with his left leg, in order to catch himself, and he sat down. Hard. He ended up sitting in an Indian-style fashion, crying. My immediate thought was "Stop crying. You just sat down. You didn't fall off anything. That was the wimpiest fall you've had in your lifetime. I can't believe you're crying." I think I then told him something along those lines, and since we were past due for a nap already anyway, I immediately took him to his room. He slept for 4 hours. When he woke up, he wouldn't put weight on his left leg. At first I thought it might just be asleep since he napped for so long, but when hours later he still wouldn't, we knew something was up. Broken-ness, though, was still VERY far from our minds. I mean, I saw the 'fall.' It was probably a 2 on a 1-10 scale, and he's had MUCH worse. I thought he maybe twisted his ankle (which I know from personal experience is VERY painful). Seth looked it up online and found a viral inflammation of the hip joint and thought that was it. (Oh, he had also come down with a rash that afternoon.) Lucky for us, we already had an 18 month Well Child Visit scheduled for 8am the next morning. (It was after 6pm when he got up from his nap.) When his pediatrician couldn't determine the cause and Ibuprofen didn't change things, he referred us to a pediatric podiatrist (say that out loud 5 times fast! ;-) That afternoon, we got an x-ray which confirmed a break in the lower tibia known as a Toddler's Fracture. We came home with his navy blue cast which he had to wear for 4 weeks. (We only have 1.5 weeks left at this point, though! woohoo!)

He's SO happy about it.

Note to self: Don't try to take a posed picture of Austin when he's overdue for his nap. This is all you'll get. The least amount of smile possible on a little face. It cracks me up! I'm sure he's actually super thrilled to be getting a little brother. He just didn't want to show it in this photo.

And the survey says...

I have seen or read about several old myths regarding finding out the gender of a yet-unborn baby over the past few years. I hadn't paid much attention last time I was pregnant, but for some reason, this time I have spent more time thinking about the sex of the baby. These so-called Old Wives Tales had me intrigued so we decided to try a few out before The Sonogram to see what they predicted. It wasn't because we thought they were true or that we're superstitious or anything, we just thought it'd be fun. In order to find out how to do the tests, we used this site and this site. Here are the results:

1) Baking Soda Test. You pour some baking soda in a cup, just enough to cover the bottom. You then pee in said cup (the mom, not the dad ;-). If it fizzes, it predicts boy, and if it doesn't fizz, it predicts girl. For us, this predicted BOY. (Is that TMI?)

2) Hairline. This one says if the firstborn has a neck hairline that comes to a point, the next will be the opposite of that child. If the neck hairline goes straight across, the sex will be the same as the firstborn. For us, this predicted BOY.

3) Chinese Gender Predictor Chart. This test simply involves using a graph to find the mom's age at conception and the month of conception. I used this one. When I entered my information into it, answering those two questions, this predicted GIRL. But when I went to the chart and looked up my actual age at conception and the actual month of conception (rather than letting it calculate for me), it predicted BOY. (I looked it up last pregnancy too, and it predicted a boy then as well. Which, of course, is what we had.) The discrepancy between the results is caused by using lunar months versus something or other. Feel free to look it up if you want more information. ;-)

4) Pendant Test. You hang a pendant either over the mom's belly or over the mom's hand. If the pendant sways back and forth like a clock tick-tocking, then it predicts boy. If it moves in a circular fashion, it predicts girl. We did both the hand and my belly, and both predicted BOY.

5) "Feeling" Test. The last one we did wasn't even really something 'to do.' It simply suggests that the mom can tell what she's having just by listening to her intuition. I don't know about intuition or a gut feeling, but the morning sickness was very different this time compared to last time, so I was convinced that meant GIRL. Even though people had told me different pregnancies can affect you differently and that this didn't mean anything. It just felt too different to be another boy.

We could have done many more, but decided to stop with five. The results of the ones we did, though, were strongly in favor of us having another BOY.

And on Monday, May 14th, we had The Sonogram and It's a Boy! We're thrilled to be adding another boy to the family!!!

The angle showing The Family Jewels.