Left for Muncie on Friday afternoon in order to help with the preparations for my grandson's 2nd birthday. On Saturday morning, I was preparing to clean the bathroom when I saw that Robin and Ryan were playing in and around Robin's bedroom door. Robbie was inside her room. Ryan was on his knees in the hall just outside, with this left hand raised to the door. My "mother" instincts told me that this wasn't a good situation because of the potential for fingers pinched in the door, but since the children weren't fussing or even being rambunctious, I thought I would leave well-enough alone and turned my attention to the bathroom. Only moments later, Ryan let out a wait, and I knew without looking what had happened. I jumped into the hall to find the index finger of his left hand in the hinge edge of the door. Robin had closed the door on it, but since the door didn't close properly, she started to do it again. In effect, the door was closed on his little finger twice!
I got Ryan extricated from the door. I took one look at the finger and panicked. It wasn't bleeding, but it looked dented and crooked--basically smashed--with some skin peeled back. I rushed him to the sink to run cold water over it, all the time yelling for Megan. (She couldn't hear me because she had a hair dryer blowing in her ear.) Nathan came on the run. In a matter of minutes, they were on their way to the prompt-med place. I stayed back with Robin. X-rays showed that the finger wasn't broken, but it had started to bleed and was quite purple and swollen. The doctor wrapped it in gauze for protection and taped it to his middle finger to help immobile it for a few days until it began to feel better. And Grandma spent the rest of the day feeling awful because she saw it coming and didn't act to prevent the situation! Robin, of course, didn't have a clue what she had done to hurt her brother, and certainly hadn't done it on purpose, so there was no point in placing blame. To his credit, Ryan was a good patient and hasn't complained about the finger since, although he wasn't using that hand. Poor little guy!
Today was Ryan's big day. After church, Nathan took the kids to the backyard to play (and keep them out of our hair). At one point, he was in his daddy's arms, crying, because he had fallen off the swing. I yelled out the window, "Grandma and Grandpa are here!" The tears shut off RIGHT NOW, and Ryan made a bee-line for the house. He loves his Grandpa Heffelman! We had a great birthday meal, sang the traditional song, had cake and ice cream, then had Ryan open presents.
Robin had some presents, too, but she soon figured out that the day wasn't all about her. She went over to her father and told him that she was going to have "sad time" out in the back yard. I followed her out. She had gone clear to the back of the property and got up on her Little Tykes slide deal. She said she was having "lonely time". I asked her if she was feeling lonely because someone else was getting the attention, and she said, "'Cep' me." It is sometimes difficult to believe that I am dealing with a 3-year-old! It was very clear what the problem was, and she was able to verbalize it! Within minutes, we went back in the house, and Robin started playing quite imaginatively with some of Ryan's presents. (He didn't care. He was too busy on his knees playing with his trains and cars!) They played nicely for the duration of the Colts game (which we were watching on DVR)--then the grandparents all departed for Plainfield. Meg wrote to tell me that the kids did NOT want to go to bed. Surprise, surprise!
So, why is it a Backpack birthday? Ryan got a Thomas the Train backpack, and Robin got a Dora the Explorer backpack. Ryan got a Dora the Explorer talking toy backpack, complete with compass, map, telescope and video camera. He also got little doll named Eddie, which had a backpack on his back... (For those of you who don't have little ones around, Dora the Explorer is a favorite TV program. Robin can count in Spanish because of it!
All in all, it was a pretty nice party for a little dude who probably won't remember it in 5 years! Did we overdo it? I don't think so. Everyone deserves to have one special day, surrounded by the people who love him/her. Today was Ryan's.
To those of you whom I have bored with the accounting of this weekend's escapades, I apologize. Hey...I warned you on the very first entry in this blog that I would be talking about my grandchildren a lot! It is fantastic to have two healthy, cute, bright, delightful children in my life. What a blessing!
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