Ouch!

Stella and Mabel have this fun little habit of lifting their legs and hanging when we try to hold hands and walk together. They do it the most when we are actually trying to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time. Stella did this again when she and Mabel and Daddy were walking back in from exploring the golf course. This time, it caused her elbow to dislocate. She didn't cry at first but did after getting picked up to come into the house. She stopped using her left arm and just let it hang at her side. She would cry if we tried to bend her elbow. After about a half an hour of not using it and still crying I took her to the emergency room.

They call this elbow dislocation "Nursemaid's elbow". I guess because nursemaids were always dragging about their uncooperative tots. The doctor popped her elbow back in place and she screamed for a while afterward. We came home and she still wasn't using her arm. So the next morning we went back into the ER to have it checked again. The doctor tried doing the pop-it-back-in maneuver a couple of more times and then wrapped it up in a splint and sent us home with a number to call if it didn't improve. After being home for about an hour she demanded that I take the splint off and she gradually started using her arm again.

It's still tender, but it's much much better. Now, if only she would stop dangling when we hold her hand. I have to make sure that I only hold her right hand and that I let her drop when she buckles her legs.

a new song

Stella seems to really like singing. She's got quite a little repertoire of songs that she has created. The latest is her variation on Happy Birthday. Today she was singing "happy to you, happy to you, happy to you" and bouncing her little head as she sang. Mabel started singing along with her.

We've had many opportunities to sing happy birthday in the past few months, the latest was for Justin's birthday two weeks ago. We called him, which woke him up, and Mabel, Stella and Zach and I sang to him. It was the first time Justin has been away on his birthday.