Fun at the Zoo, School Update, and a Broken Arm!

Well, what a week it's been. Last Sunday we headed to the zoo. It's about the 4th time we've been this summer. Hannah always loves it. And because we have a season pass, I don't feel like I have to stay all day to get my money's worth! So, we go often for a short time (1-2 hours maximum). This time we hit the butterfly exhibit and the giraffe before heading to the kids play area. We always ride the carrosel and play in the water! Hannah loves the water best!

School is going very well, although I think Hannah is becoming a bit bossy! :-) The other day I snuck up on her and caught her walking up and down her preschool class (who were all sitting nicely in a line in the gym waiting to leave there). Well, all but Hannah. She was walking back and forth and bending down at each child with her finger on her lips telling them to be quiet!
She no longer cries when I drop her off or when I see her on the playground or in the gym (the two times a day my class and her class are together.) She ALWAYS runs up to me with a big smile yelling "Mama! Mama!". But, all she wants is a quick hug and then she runs off to play. When I pick her up in the afternoon, she is always playing. She tells me about her day - which is so cool to me with all her speech / language difficulties. But, she starts telling me words she can and signing and pointing to get her point across. Her teachers help interpret. So, when she signed "paint" and I asked "Did you paint today" - her teachers showed me her painting. Friday, she signed "book" and pointed to the books in her class and then signed "ice-cream". I asked if she read a book about ice-cream, and they said no - but they did read books and they did talk about ice-cream. I am just amazed that she tries to tell me about her day!

This weekend we went to a birthday party. We had two on the calendar, but only made one. Last night we went to a party at Jump Zone! and Hannah fractured her arm there. It was one of those "freak accidents" that no one could have helped. A man was climbing the inflatable slide and when he started climbing, no children were around. Hannah was clear on the other side of the room. But, as he neared the top, she took off running and was standing right under him. Everyone reached out to grab her back and at the same time, the man fell. We thought she had been pulled out of the way just in the nick of time, but she cried pretty hard and kept pointing to her hand. But, in just a minute, she ran off to play and seemed fine. So, we thought it was just a little sore. But, this morning, something just didn't seem quite right to me. She wouldn't put a lot of pressure on it. So, I called the After-hours clinic and headed over there. (A true blessing! We didn't have those when I was a kid - we sat in the emergency room for hours and hours and hours). In the waiting room, Hannah played and carried around heavy doll-furniture (she wanted to rearrange!) and laughed and sang and seemed fine. When the doctor examined her, he too thought she had not broken anything, but he had her arm x-rayed just to make sure. And, sure enough, there is a small fracture. Hannah's in a splint for now and we go early this week to have it casted for 2-4 weeks. Poor kid, it'll be off just in time for her to have her cleft palate surgery! The good news is she doesn't appear to be in pain. She did wake up once last night crying and I gave her something for it. But other than that, she's laughed and played and sang. She also doesn't seem to mind the splint. She hasn't tried to take it off and it hasn't really slowed her playing much. She did want to watch a video tonight for a little longer than she usually does. She wanted to watch it curled up in my lap and that was just fine with me. And of course, I had to treat her to ice-cream tonight. I'll keep you posted with what we find out Monday. And I will post pictures soon - I seem to be having a bit of trouble tonight.