Ooops, he did it again

I arrived home from work on Wed. night and was greeted by Tanner laying on the couch. Reed said he just woke up, so that was why he was laying on the couch. His face was scuffed up, apparently he did a face plant in the sand at the park with the babysitter (he was doing superman on the swing and lost his balance) and because of the way he was laying I asked what happened to his arm. He had found Heidi's "fancy Nancy" stamp and put it all over his arm, which was the explanation, but I should have done more follow up on that one. So I set into making dinner, get it all done, the girls sit down and Reed asks Tanner if he wants to come and eat. He won't move. I look at him and realize that his right arm has not left the spot where he was gripping his left arm since I looked at him 35 min earlier. I instantly knew that there was a problem. Tanner has dislocated his left elbow on two previous occasions. We tried to quiz the girls on events of the day to try and decide when this happened. We call the babysitter, who only said that he was sleeping in a funny position for his nap. Turns out the girls were cleaning their room and Tanner was messing it up. Zoe was trying to get him out and pulled him by the arm. This must have been just before Tanner went down for a nap. So I pick up Tanner and his blanket and we head to the urgent care. After waiting for an hour and a half the doctor walks in, says, "you have done it again", pops it back in and we are out the door. The good news is that the ligaments are getting tighter and he will grow out of this soon. Hopefully.

welcome spring...and air conditioning

Several weeks ago Reed announced that the pitchers were reporting for spring training. He said it in a way that I new the statement was loaded, so I asked, "What does that mean?" Reply, "It's gonna get hot."
And so it has. I returned home from work today and the house was really hot. We have been managing to survive with open windows and fans (delightful in the morning). I ran some errands and when I returned and began making dinner I noticed a familiar breeze on my face. Reed had turned on the air conditioner. This may not seem like a big deal, we are in Arizona, but it is what it means. It means that there are no more afternoons of letting the kids ride their bikes in the front yard, because it is too crazy hot. It means the pool is open for the season and all the towels that are now neatly tucked away will soon be littering my house in soggy piles. It means the constant hum of the air conditioner for the next six months, with the attached power bill. It means we probably need to turn our sprinklers back on so we can keep everything green and then have to trim it all in 100 degree temperatures. The air conditioner "on" signals the end of the innocence here at our house. It is when we contemplate the sanity of living in the desert, and wonder where we have put all the sunshades for our cars. From now on trips to the store for ice cream have to be executed with precision as to not destroy the ice cream before it can be safely stored in the freezer.
On the bright side, we get to contemplate visiting everyone we know who lives somewhere else.

I can do hard things

Today at work my first patient was a 17 year old who whined and fretted. I don't get too many of these, but invariably their self talk sounds something like this...I hate shots, just a second, I can't do this, this will hurt, I don't want to do this, are you sure I have to do this, this is too hard. I reassure them that the only bad thing that could happen is if they were to stop breathing, so please take a deep breath, you are going to be alright, just hold still. Just a note, if you want to really injure yourself and upset the dentist try and grab the hand with the needle, bad idea. I know from the shaking hands and sweaty brow when patients are really nervous, I see it all the time, and I always try to be gentle, regardless of how the patient is acting, or overreacting.
This is what really bothered me today, so I am going to share. It was the dialogue. I started to wonder, at what point in this girls life is she going to realize that sometimes you have to endure undesireable situations, and you just have to tell yourself, I can do this. It is hard, it hurts, it is not fun, but it will be over quickly and I can do this.
As a juxtaposition, my last patient of the day was a 4 year old who didn't flinch. He had his fair share of wiggles and curiousity but at no point was there a fret that this was too hard.
Sis. Dalton, who is the young women's general president had a little bio in the church news a while back and it said that she has on her desk a plaque that says "I can do hard things. " It has stuck with me. It is classy, it has backbone, it is all about facing trials head on and and not getting caught up in negative dialogue.
I can do hard things. I also get to do a lot of boring things, like the dishes, but hey, it is all a package deal.