In my house, I finally gave up the ghost, and gave my children the chore of putting away the dishes in the dishwasher. It took me a while to assign this for 2 reasons: 1- I am slightly OCD (probably) and want all the dishes put away just so. And 2- All of the cupboards are high, so no one could reach them without a stool, and climbing is something I tend to discourage around here. I was eventually convinced that it might be useful to have my "slaves" help out around the kitchen, and haven't really looked back. To make it work for me though, I gave each of the children a job. Dylan puts away the silverware. Kaitlyn takes the dishes out of the dishwasher, and stacks them on the counter top. Kari takes the stacked dishes, and yes, standing on a stool, puts them away.
On this particular day, Kaitlyn was taking the dishes out of the dishwasher, and was trying to hurry. So, rather than taking them out one at a time (as I had instructed her to several times), she took out a whole stack, and then tried to boost them up onto the counter. At which point, she dropped the whole stack onto her big toe. The dishes, being Corelle, didn't even blink, bless 'em.
For several days, she wouldn't put any weight on her toe, and I began to be concerned that she had broken it. Being that we were planning a fun filled Spring Break that included quite a bit of walking, I took her to the doctor, just to be sure. He informed me that it wasn't broken, but that he could drill through the nail to relieve some of the pressure, and therefore the pain. Now, her father had offered to do this the night after it happened, but Kaitlyn resisted, and we didn't push. After having her pediatrician do it, I am glad he didn't. She screamed bloody murder, but thankfully sat stock still.
A few days later, she started to get a blood blister below the toe nail, and was kind enough to let me pop that as well. I was quite surprised by how much blood came out of there too.
And, if I am being honest, she didn't "let" me pop it so much as I gave her the leapster and sat in front of her so she wouldn't be able to watch. It is amazing how painless things are when you can't see!
As of a few days ago. The pain is gone. She can play on it quite well.
She'll lose the nail, but, eh. Such is life. Now, the bigger question is, do I say "I told you so"? :)
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Wowie! What a battle wound! My stomach is getting icky just thinking about it... The tendency is to be like your imperfect mom and do the "I told you so." For this one, do as I say, not as I do. As young as she is, she will still have learned something, but you want her to not be mad at you about the whole thing. Just ask her what she has learned through all this. It probably won't be, "to listen to my mom." It will probably be something like, "to not be in a hurry and put all the plates on top of the cupboard at once. They are heavy and might fall on my toe!" kind of thing. And, that's OK. Kids do funny things and have to learn by making mistakes. Ask their mom or their grandmom. We all did it and still do. I'm still learning.
Oh my goodness!! That is a battle wound in which the dishes did win (without even a crack, wow!). Aw, I hope Kaitlyn is feeling better, and hopefully she'll remember. :)
Wow! That was gross! Thanks for that. ;) Hope it heals nicely. And, if she ever starts to pull out a stack again, I would just remind her what happened. :)
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