Hey Mom, I broke a bone in my skeleton!!!

...aaannnd, yes, she did.

Her left tibia to be exact. We're not exactly sure when (June 30, July 1?) but I'm pretty positive I know the where (my bed) and the how (jumping). Remember the book, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed." Yep. That would be our darling daughter Ella.

To top off this fun story - It is now a week later and she got a cast for said broken tibia today!

Why would we wait a week to take care of a broken limb on Darling Daughter Ella?!?!? What kind of horrible parents are we??!??!

Hmmm... a quick recap.

Monday or Tuesday - jumping on the bed. Ella stops jumping and holds her knee for a couple of seconds. She steps down off the bed and goes to play something else.

Wednesday - B, E and A spend several hours walking around the zoo.

Thursday - Shopping for 4th of July food for the masses and fireworks

Friday - playing with Hayley and Ainsley, running around all day. Starts walking kind of funny, gets progressively worse as the evening progresses. Never complains or says she got hurt - even when we asked her.

Friday Night - wants carried and not to walk

Saturday Morning - can't stand up to get out of bed but of course, is still trying to walk. We, being the concerned parents we are, and being totally paranoid about this child's feet in particular - rush around making arrangements to take her to the ER and drop baby sister off with Dan and Melissa.

Saturday Morning - wait at the ER

Saturday Afternoon - ER doc checks Ella out, localizes the pain to a specific! spot on her ankle that has pain and tenderness, slight swelling. Ella off to x-rays. There are no signs of a break in her ankle. Oh, but wait, there is a spot on her ankle that shows up as an empty space. Typically this empty space is "this big" but it is somewhat larger on her film. They don't know if this is because her feet are the way they are or if it is indicative of a broken ankle. Basically, they call it a sprain, give her a walking boot, but tell her to not put weight on it (yeah right) and tell us to call back on Monday.

Saturday Night - playing with H. and A. and A. - crawling all over the house, up and down the stairs, not a care in the world.

Sunday - still can't walk on it, still sensitive although she tells us it isn't

Monday - "No, it doesn't hurt." Can you stand on it? "Um, I can stand on it but you hold my hand to help me." Really, she can't stand on it at all - zero weight.

Monday Afternoon - P.A. comes in and checks Ella's leg and foot - exactly the same poking and prodding as the ER doc on Saturday. She looks at Ella for approximately 27.8 seconds and says, "I'll bet you money it's her tibia not her ankle." Evidently, not through wincing or pulling or pushing or straining or whimpering or crying, she told the dr. where her leg actually hurt. How did this dr. know where Ella's leg hurt with no visible signs you might ask. Hmmm...Let's see - Ella looked up at her with 'opened' eyes. How amazing of a doctoring skill is that?!??! I'm totally impressed.

Monday Afternoon - we pop Ella into x-ray. Go back to the room to wait 15-20 minutes for her films to be read and in approximately 3.2 minutes she walks back into the room and tells me she'll need a cast because she has a broken tibia.

Oh yeah, that jumping on the bed thing, holding her knee LAST week, she broke her leg. Never said ONE word about it - AT ALL. She is one tough cookie!!!

I tell her that she will be in a full cast, toes to hip - a really long big cast. Her reply? "Mom, do I get a big long cast because my leg hurts up high?" Interesting. That information would have been helpful Several days ago ;)

Now she's into a Full Leg, Hot Pink cast. All the rage. Very Cool. Very Styling. Very Summer - well, except for the heat and the water part of summer. I shall try and take a picture tomorrow. It really is kind of cool looking.

On the drive home from the Dr. office we were talking about her broken leg, "Hey Mom, I broke a bone in my skeleton!!!" Needless to say, one of us thought this was much cooler than the other.