A Valuable Lesson

"Dad, I've learned a valuable lesson tonight" said Michael as he got out of the car at the instacare last night. He then stated that he learned that it's important to tell the truth.

Last week, Michael came in after a day of playing and was hobbling around. We asked him what happened and he informed us that he got mad and kicked the wall. (We have an 8 foot brick wall that is a fence on the back of our property.) We informed him that that wasn't very smart and perhaps he should learn a better way to express his frustration. I dismissed the incident, but over the past couple of days noticed that he was still hobbling around a bit. Every time I asked him about it, he would claim that his foot didn't hurt and he didn't know why he was walking funny.

Now, this is when having two parents comes in handy. Yesterday, he was hobbling worse than he had been, but when I asked, he gave the same answer he'd been giving me. I was concerned, but having a newborn takes a considerable amount of time, energy and aparently brain power, so I once again dismissed it. Luckily, Dave also noticed, and upon a more insistent inspection, became concerned that Michael had broken something. We were debating about when to take him in, so I went ahead and tucked him into bed. As I was tucking him in, he fessed up.

I was informed by my son that before I had told the kids that they couldn't go past a certain point in the yard out to the busy street/sidewalk on the other side of the wall, he had jumped off that wall, barefoot. When he told me the truth, it made so much more sense as to why his heel hurt and not his toes. I'd been scratching my head trying to figure out how he had kicked the wall with the heel of his foot.

After "the coolest doctor's appointment ever" (Michael's words, not mine, apparently X-rays are the coolest), we learned he may have a fracture in his heel, though because of where his growth plates are, they can't completely tell. So he gets to wear a boot around for a week, as though he had a fracture, and we'll see how he's doing. If he's walking normal, we are good to go, if not, we may have to get more extensive tests etc. to see if there's a bigger problem.

After they returned last night, and Michael, grinning ear to ear told me about his experience, my husband told me about Michael's announcement that he'd learned a valuable lesson. We had a giggle at the way Michael expresses himself and are grateful it's not more serious! I'm also grateful to have a husband that pays more attention than me!!