One fine day in January, Eli was being a great helper and was pulling the garbage can down the driveway after the garbage truck dumped the garbage. I still am not exactly sure what happened, but he somehow slipped on the driveway, and fell with his thumb smashed between the garbage can and the driveway. There was a good scrape below the thumbnail, involving blood, so Eli was screaming immediately. We headed inside and got him some Tylenol, and a Band-Aid and I tried calming him down. It took a full 30 minutes before he stopped crying hysterically. He was starting to almost hyperventilate. He was speaking in gibberish. It was a bit crazy. I pulled out all of my tricks: putting on his favorite show, giving him sips of water, tickling, had Ben dancing, but to no avail. I finally conned him into eating a cookie so he could slow his breathing down. Poor kid. We got in for X-rays the next day and you guessed it - he broke his little thumb. Right on the tip. Also, his thumb was extremely swollen, and his thumb nail was pretty damaged. So they pierced (burned) a hole in the thumb nail to relieve the pressure. Ben watched the whole thing. Eli and I watched Ben.
This is the third significant damage to his little thumbs... This past summer, he smashed a thumb between a trailer and a shovel and it turned dark, but finally grew out. Next, the same thumb was slammed in a sliding patio door, resulting in a black nail and a significant scrape that required constant Band-aid changing for several weeks. I can't recall if this recent injury was to the same thumb or not, but either way, this kid has had some major bad thumb luck.
How cute is this little lead vest? (and the kid in it?)
Pretty gross, huh?
A broken thumb doesn't stop this kid from much. We have been having an incredible winter with *many* 50+ degree days filled with sunshine. Here is a beach trip to Fogarty Creek Beach south of Lincoln City. The boys enjoyed some serious sand time rerouting the creek and practicing some engineering skills. Even had some time in the water.
The boys both made some cute homemade Valentines
Eli *loves* playing LEGOs. He independently builds his own concoctions, while Ben loves to follow directions and make 'kits' -or- make patterns, or works with mom to make something.
Ben had a great 5 week basketball season and loved every minute of it. We finally assembled the hoop from Christmas. The boys (all 3) are enjoying it! Ben has become quite the shooter!
Here is a clip of the first game of Ben's basketball season. He scored a big shot and was so proud!
The boys pooled their Valentine cash from grandmas and went to a used LEGO store. They filled the bucket with quite a variety of pieces.
Eli picked up impetigo (a bacterial rash-like infection usually on the face) somehow and had to miss a few days of school (thank you Grandma Jeanne for watching him!). His face has been slow to heal, and I don't really want to post any pictures of it... Poor kid.
