Swing Low, Little Monkeys

Another ~3 weeks left in the cast, and Toby is hanging in there. Some toys have lost his interest, but not the circuits and of course not Duplos. We don't get to the park or other adventures as much as we used to, but we do still need to get out of the house and Finnegan Frost was a fun treat enjoyed by everyone in the family. Remember those days when we didn't have to share food with anybody, Nate?

Humans are Moving Creatures

moving |ˈmo͞oviNG

• go in a specified direction or manner; change position
• provoke a strong feeling

Snap-on Underwear

And now for a topic that has only been addressed once on my blog before, and perhaps will never be mentioned again: underwear.

Tips for caring for a child in a spica cast abound on the internet, thankfully. A lot of those kids are younger and still in diapers, so I didn't see a lot of specific info on how to dress a child who is potty trained. Hopefully this post will help those who need a visual idea before they go cutting up their child's clothes!

I was given a snap pliers for putting snaps on cloth diapers, but it has come in very handy for modifying clothing to fit over the cast.

To make this snap-on underwear I chose a pair about 2 sizes larger than what my son normally wears. I cut it open along the sides, sewed in side panels (the blue sections) from an old T-shirt, and added snaps to each side. I made the blue pieces extra long and trimmed them to size after trying it on him. So far it has worked fine, although one part of the elastic waist is raveling...I should have sewed it down better.

We tuck a small diaper inside the cast, underneath the underwear, because even potty trained 3-year-olds have those "I have to pee I have to pee I have to pee" moments, and right now he can't run to the potty! We really don't want to get the cast wet. The underwear holds that diaper from moving and makes him seem dressed a little more normally (for him) than using pull-ups or diapers over the cast.

Constraints Fuel Creativity

It's been a week since Tobias broke his leg. I got just a little sad looking at the 4th of July videos where he was running around with sparklers. And I got just a little sad when a box of clothes for him arrived and he can't wear any of them right now (I think they're big enough that he can still wear them a little this fall). Silly, I know. Don't worry, no one is spending too much time being sad! Mostly I'm proud of how patient and positive he's been.

I asked Toby how many days he thought it would be until the cast came off. He said 47 (that's the 3 year old version of "not quite infinity"). I counted, and that's Sept 16. We'll see.

He's in very good spirits and slept through the night last night for the first time in the cast. He's getting to try lots of new activities like tummy scooting, spirograph spinning, and accompanying Ben (Nate's friend) with shaky eggs.