The cast is on!

First thing Tuesday morning Felicity came downstairs, half-asleep, and somehow managed to fracture two bones in her right foot. We were asleep when she entered our room and although she cried and said she hurt her toe, she got into bed and fell asleep. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that she was seriously injured until the rest of us were ready and the car was loaded to leave for singing school. I tried to get her up to eat and get dressed, but she said, "Mommy, I can't walk." Two doctor's offices later, we left town with Felicity in a splint and instructions to get a cast when we got home and the swelling was gone.

I have earned a new respect this week for mothers of twins. Boy, it's not easy when you have two kids who can't walk on their own. Fortunately, we were surrounded by wonderful folks at Mt. Gilead who jumped in and helped whenever we needed it. I also appreciate how wonderful it is when your kids have opportunities to burn some energy. This child is wired - very loud and overly emotional. I think she's mostly frustrated by her lack of mobility, although she has started crawling.

She's usually the first child up in the morning, besides Lily, so I wondered what would happen this morning when she was home in her own bed; she slept with me at singing school. Sure enough, when I was in the shower she knocked on the door. When I got out and asked if she'd crawled down the stairs, she said, "I slid down on my butt - on my bottom." Anyone who knew my mom well knew that although she spoke her mind, there were certain words that might be common, but were simply not a part of her vocabulary. These words gave you a one-way ticket into the land of "white trash." This is an area where I have a lot of my mom in me. Kids seem to love to use the words you don't want to hear, and I have something which my mom never had - BOYS. Also, my parents weren't outnumbered 4 to 1 by their offspring. Kids are amazingly clever. They love to introduce these words to their younger brothers and sisters, hoping that the little ones will be funny and charming when they use them, and the words can be introduced into common family usage. Secretly though, I think they love trying to get a rise out of me, so maybe they don't want them to be too acceptable. "Butt" falls into this category, so I'm glad there were no witnesses to my reaction this morning.