What We Did Right Yesterday

Our Father's Day plans fell apart yesterday when our 18-month old daughter ended up in the ER with a broken leg. (For those of you who are curious as to how Maggie sustained this injury, and her current well-being ... see the bottom of this post. I'll spare the rest of you the details.) This is exactly the sort of chaos that could bring out our worst behavior, but to our credit we held it together admirably yesterday.

So, for my own benefit, here's a quick list of what we did right yesterday:

1. We accepted the change in plans by adjusting our priorities: Clearly caring for our daughter's health was more important that fulfilling a Father's Day tradition. Keeping that in mind made it emotionally easier to shift the schedule (not always an easy task for two very scheduled people).

2. We took turns going off the deep end: We have a deal in our marriage that only one of us gets to be crazy at a time. We held to that yesterday and balanced each other when one of us teetered toward the edge.

3. We didn't make each other the enemy: Whenever you get frazzled by circumstances (two restless children in a cramped hospital room, three hours past nap time), it's easy to turn on each other rather than remembering it's the circumstances causing the discomfort. We remembered this yesterday.

4. We kept checking in: Since the day took a turn for the unpredictable, we couldn't rely on a predetermined plan. So we checked in throughout the day: do you still want to grab supper out? Would you like to take Sam for a bike ride when we get home? Are you doing okay with both kids now? Would you like another drink?

That's what worked yesterday. I'm proud of us in a "shouldn't I behave this well all the time?" sort of way.

Post Script: Maggie took a hard fall (from an attempt to climb the kitchen drawers like a ladder) on Friday night. She was clearly in pain and wouldn't put weight on her right leg, but there was no bruising or swelling and she had a full range of motion. We saw the doctor on Saturday, and she advised giving it a day, assuming it was a muscle strain.

When Maggie wasn't better on Sunday the doctor sent us for X-rays, which revealed a "buckle" break just below her right knee, probably caused by landing upright on her leg and jamming it. Thankfully these sorts of breaks are fairly benign - they heal quickly (she's only in the cast for a week) and don't cause long term damage on growth plates, etc. As of right now, Maggie is quite frustrated by the cast, but doing well otherwise.