A Trip to the ER, with happy ending

Yesterday I pulled out the bag of play sand and filled Charlie's new Sand and Water Transportation Station. While he was unimpressed, more interested in playing with a broom, it did attract the attention of the girls next door and their playmates. Soon, Charlie was surrounded by adorable girls and digging in the sand right along with them.

Then, out of nowhere, he started crying and trying to go inside. I figured he was hungry or tired and let him in to see Daddy. I cleaned up the sand mess, now strewn about the patio, and went inside to find a crying little boy. Now, Charlie fusses daily, and sometimes he cries for about 30 seconds, but this was unprecedented.

I tried to soothe him in all my usual mommy ways. Ted even broke out the arsenal of gripe water since Charlie's rigid body suggested gas or heartburn. No dice.

After much investigating we realized that he was favoring his left foot. He wouldn't stand on it or let us touch his toes without howling in pain. Into the car we went.

As long as we were holding him upright and letting him hold his foot away from our bodies, Charlie did fine. A dose of Tylenol seemed to take the edge off his pain but he clearly was not ok yet.

The next 4 or so hours went like this:
wait, get called to the desk by mistake, wait, get called again by mistake, wait, answer intake questions and get his pulse ox taken (he did enjoy ripping the disposable monitor off his finger), wait some more, get a stuffed bunny, wait, go to registration, wait, get a stuffed monkey, wait, get into a room, wait...

Then the nurse came in to check on him. She started examining his foot and noted that if it was broken he probably would not let her push on it like she was. But she ordered x-rays to be sure and commented on how sweet he was. Ted set him down on the bed/gurney and that's when it happened.

Did he fall off? Start screaming bloody murder? Pass a large amount of gas? Nope. He started jumping on the bed. No kidding, all the drama over and now he's performing Swan Lake.

The subsequent x-ray was, of course, unnecessary. But hey, we were there, we were going to have to pay through the nose, and you never can be sure with kids.

The good news is Charlie and his foot are fine. I'm guessing that maybe he had a dislocated toe that went back into place when the nurse checked him out. We'll never know. I'm just relieved that he's back to being the funny, happy, walking baby he was before.

(And by funny, I do mean funny. Today at church he started laughing, very loudly, during the consecration. He was really cracking up. I'm glad God has a sense of humor, too.)