Sprained Ankle Number 2

A few years ago, we were on vacation in Texas, visiting some friend's of Mike's, who happened to have a trampoline in their back yard.  The mom of this family had just finished telling me how much she hated having that trampoline because she was always worrying that someone was going to get hurt on it.  Seeing my own kids jumping on it, I thought, nah, she's wrong.  Look how much fun the girls are having.  Until Sydney came down on her foot wrong and sprained her ankle.  It put a bit of a crimp on the rest of our vacation, since we had lots of activities planned that included a lot of walking.  But, she did recover eventually.  And, she hasn't been on a trampoline since.  Last weekend, we went to Lincoln to see the girl's cousins perform in a ballet.  Then we were going to have dinner at their house afterwards.  And guess what is the only play thing present in their backyard?  A trampoline.  Briana immediately started jumping on it.  She had a fantastic time.

She was jumping around, doing all kinds of tricks and she even leapt off the trampoline onto the ground at one point.  She was having a blast.  I got Sydney to sit on the trampoline, but that was it for her.  So she sat there and let Briana bounce her around for a little while.  Then, I talked Sydney into standing up and jumping a little bit herself.  So she did.  She was standing up and jumping around.  And, she was smiling and laughing and really starting to enjoy herself.
 

Then, just as the fun was beginning, she came down on her ankle wrong.  It was horrible.  I saw the whole thing happen.  Her ankle gave out beneath her, and she crumpled into the trampoline in pain.  "I sprained my ankle again!" she kept saying.  I felt horrible.  I made her sprain her ankle!  If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't have even jumped on the trampoline!  I'm a bad mom!!! 
By the next day, her ankle had swelled way up, warranting a trip to the doctors office.  I was certain something was broken. (Bad Mom!)  But, as it turns out, it was just a sprain.   It looks pretty bad though. 

My poor baby!  It's still bothering her, but it's so much better than it was a couple days ago.  According to the doctor, it will be about two weeks before it's better.  The lesson I learned from all this:  No more trampolines for Sydney!  Ever!

The Really Good and The Really Bad

The Really Good:
Sydney was a top ten reader in second grade for the Read A Thon week!

She worked sooo hard all week long to be a top ten reader, and her hard work paid off!  She read about six chapter books and about a million picture books all in one week.  Go Sydney!  I'm soo proud of her!

The Really Bad:
Briana lost her ipod this week.  She left it in the dressing room at a store in the mall.  She remembered it about ten minutes later, but when we went back for it, it was gone.  I'm sure I'm overreacting about the whole thing, but every time I think about it I get a stomach ache.  She was devestated all weekend long.  But, we came up with a plan to get her a new ipod.  She's going to earn her own money and buy herself a new ipod.  A very hard lesson to learn. 
She started off on Saturday by cleaning out Mike's car for him.

We cleaned off her bookshelf and made a trip to Half Price Books, and today she started doing extra chores around the house to earn more. 

She even made herself a special jar to keep all her earnings.

She's doing a great job earning the money, and I'm really proud of her for that.  I know it is really hard for her though.  That ipod was her most prized possession.  Poor girl!

The Art of Play

The Art of Play, a Fourth Grade Presentation, by Briana (with a bit of dance mixed in, for fun)