A Monkey & Her Broken Arm

On Friday, I got the dreaded call from our wonderful and awesome secretary at school.
"Desirae, Emma hurt her arm on the playground. Can you come and see what you think?"
I have been expecting this day to come ever since Emma discovered a love for the monkey bars...

She was very brave. She didn't start with the tears until she saw me walk into the school. Even then, there weren't very many tears. We drove over to the Instacare and after a quick check by the doctor, a few x-ray pics, and a temporary splint from the nurse, we were on our way home with a fractured ulna and radius of the right arm. Because of the swelling, we had to wait until today to get a cast on. She was very excited to be able to choose a red cast. She wanted green, but they didn't have it. :(

Her timing is impeccable. Our sweet little monkey who will be turning 8 next week is supposed to be baptized on May 1. So we were wondering how a cast was going to fit into these plans. Fortunately the doc said that we are good to go! So she will be sporting a beautiful red cast covered by an even more beautiful bread bag for her big day. She has been really quite calm through the whole process. She had a little moment of sadness when she remembered that she was going to play the opening song at her baptism, but she went right over to the piano and quickly discovered that she can play it with her left hand! (Those left hands are quite amazing if you ask me. But I may be partial to lefties. :)

So today we made a trip over to the park and took some pictures of her in her lovely baptism dress made by her mother that didn't turn out the way it was supposed to and caused this mother much grief and the expressing of a couple of naughty words. But Emma loves it and so that's all that matters. Abbie and Ellie will be wearing it too someday, whether it fits them or not. We are going to get some mileage out of this dress. :)

So here she is...Miss Emma Lemma Ding Dong Monkey Girl in her beautiful white dress and red cast. She is ready to go. One thing I have to mention about this whole arm-breaking experience. My kids really do love each other! When Abbie came home from school she said, "Mom, when I heard about Emma I went into the bathroom and started to cry!" (Aww!) Then she tells me, "Mom, I am going to have a snack and then I am going to help Emma. She needs me right now." Josh has taken the teasing level down 1, maybe 2 notches. Even little Ellie has done what she can to help. Emma dropped her spoon at breakfast and before anyone could do or say anything, Ellie had pushed her chair away from the table and was saying, "I get it Emma! I get your spoon for you!" (Aww!) Abbie cleaned Emma's room for her on Saturday (which she should get some sort of award for) and she has helped her with the difficult task of getting her shirt on and off.
So a lot of good has come out of this sticky little situation...
a.) I discovered that my kids really love each other.
b.) I discovered that little Emma has so many people who love her and are concerned about her well being. We had many cards, flowers, and candy left on our doorstep.
c.) Most importantly though, Emma will be able to discover how awesome it is to be a lefty! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself. A shout out to all the lefties of the world!)