Now and Then

Once upon a time, there was a two year old Z who fell on his wrist rather than let go of a special toy to break his fall. That wrist broke and he looked like this for six weeks:




Fast forward eight years and we have a nearly ten year old Z who fell due to some brotherly mayhem, once again breaking his fall with the same wrist. He's going to look like this for three weeks:



Times have changed and breaks are different and Z will be able to shower and swim with his cast, just not do most of his chores (which will be covered by CW, who was responsible for the brotherly mayhem). Before we knew what sort of cast Z would get, I contemplated whether the "good mom" thing would be to ban CW from the pool as long as Z was banned and I looked forward to weeks of two boys pool-less with a great deal of dread. I have never been so grateful for such a thing as a water-resistant cast! Parenting is tricky and punishments often punish the mom at least as much as the wrong doer. I'm glad that our summer will not include this sort of whole family punishment for some momentary mayhem. Yeah for technology, for good insurance and good doctors.

*thank UT alum Aunt Tiff for keeping all boys and their sisters in burnt orange over the years.