September, Part 3: I Didn't See That Coming!

 

Above: Johnny with what turned out to be nursemaid's elbow rather than a broken arm, which is what we originally feared. http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/bones/nursemaid.html

 

We got a few surprises that I wasn't expecting when Peter started preschool. These changes and surprises mostly came as a result of the fact that he became best buddies with a neighbor boy named Jonas who lives across the street from us.

 

It has been a huge adjustment for our whole family, I'm not going to lie! We went from having relatively quiet days where I was pretty much in control of everything (mostly our schedule) to having a visitor stop by at all sorts of times (some convenient, others not so much). Not to mention Peter begging to go over there to play too.

 

The first few times, I was able to keep Jonas at our house. His family has a very laid back attitude, I think, and Jonas kind of roams a little bit (which I am not cool with Peter doing). He really has a "don't fence me in" kind of attitude. He likes to go where he pleases. Somewhat like the Phantom of the Opera in how he appears and disappears unexpectedly (though not creepy and homicidal like the Phantom, of course).

 

After awhile, Jonas kept begging for Peter to go to his house. Peter was begging right alongside him. I finally caved, but I told Peter he had to promise me to stay outside on Jonas' trampoline where I could see him. They both promised. I changed Johnny's diaper and then looked out the window to check on him--but they were both gone. This freaked me out. At the time, I didn't know Jonas' parents yet. I was mad at Peter for disobeying my request that he stay outside so I could watch him. I was disappointed in myself for caving, because I didn't want to let Peter go over there to play before I had been introduced to Jonas' parents. I was scared because I didn't know where he was. Most likely he was just inside their house, but their kids kind of come and go as they please and there was a chance that he may have gone to someone else's house. Then it dawned on me that Peter's allergies could put his life in danger if he was at someone's house that didn't know about his allergies. I don't know why this had never occurred to me before. Possibly because I have never been in this situation before. All it would take is someone to offer him a cookie with nuts in it and he could go into anaphylactic shock! I was a wreck. I came inside, said a prayer, cried, called Jeremiah, and then looked outside again. At that point, Peter and Jonas came outside to jump on the trampoline again. I told Peter he needed to come home. I then talked to him about obeying me and keeping his promises because he had broken his promise to stay outside where I could see him.

 

Since then, we have met Jonas' parents, told them of Peter's allergies, and I feel much comfortable about Peter going over there to play. Lesson learned...but why are there so many lessons to be learned?

 

Johnny has also taken a liking to Jonas, whom he calls "Nodas." Johnny would just cry and cry when I would let Peter go and jump on Jonas' trampoline, but Johnny was too little to go on his own. It really made me feel conflicted. Peter was so excited to have a new buddy, but in the process, Johnny kind of lost his playmate. He was being left out and it just made my heart break for him. Peter and Jonas would play with Johnny while they were at our house, but Jonas doesn't like to stay put for too long and would want to go back to his house. I just couldn't face Johnny being reduced to tears, so we started letting Johnny go over to jump on Jonas' trampoline too (because ours, being in the ground, apparently wasn't good enough to jump on). Now, of course, I didn't let my two year old go to someone else's house to jump on their trampoline by himself. I went over there and sat on the rocks at the edge of their yard while they jumped so I could watch Johnny. This was kind of awkward, of course. This was before I had really gotten to know Jonas' parents. However, they weren't often available for us to chat. Actually, when I went over there to watch Johnny, it led to me getting to know Jonas' mom, Lacey a little bit. She came outside to chat with me while I was watching Johnny. I hope she didn't think it was weird that I just invited myself to her yard. Aye yai yai. Why is it that relationships are so awkward? Relationship stuff doesn't end once you get married. Relationships miscommunication isn't just about romantic relationships. Relationship stuff never ends. We are both a little different from each other, and it has led to a couple of misunderstandings...but I think we are all good now (or for now)!

 

At any rate, one day while I was fixing dinner, Jeremiah went over there with the boys so Johnny could jump on the trampoline. They have a slide coming off of their trampoline and Johnny fell in love with it. However, he got a little too comfortable with that slide and ended up rolling off of it in a weird way--which led to him getting nursemaid's elbow. Thank goodness his arm wasn't broken...but as you can see from the description below, we will still get to pay for an x-ray! Hooray!

 

At any rate, I just didn't foresee these changes. Life has definitely changed. It is interesting having to stand my ground to enforce house and family rules with my sons' friend as well as just with my boys. It is always a little discouraging to discover how much backbone I still have left to grow! I am starting to get used to it, but I really didn't see it coming!

 

Above: Pretty much any time we even nudged Jonathan's arm in any way, he would burst into genuine tears. He was in a lot of pain and quite miserable. Even the doctor was pretty sure his arm was broken based on the reactions he got from Johnny when he touched him. Then when Jeremiah had to lay his arm flat for the x-ray, he had to twist his hand (which made Johnny scream), and we are pretty sure his elbow popped back into place at that moment. The x-ray showed no signs of a break and after that, Johnny was using his arm again like a pro. Just like nothing had ever happened. I sure can't wait for the bill for his x-ray! Yay! However, I am very grateful that he was okay.