The scooter incident

Every family has one...the child that ends up at the ER and/or doctor more than the rest combined.  In our family, this is Lainie.  The incident was bound to happen one day. For Christmas last year, the girls all got scooters.  Lainie decided it would be fun to try to jump a rock curb at our house.  "Why?" you ask?  The world will never know!  She lost control and the handle bar on the scooter hit her straight across the bridge of her nose.  Her nose bled a bit, and swelled.  Her eyes dilated through the evening, she was very coherent, and she had little pain after a dose of Tylenol.  By the next morning, her nose was several shades of pastel colors.  We told her she has an Easter egg nose! The morning after that, the swelling was worse and starting to get too close to her eyes, so off to the doctor we went.  The pediatrician told us that the rule of thumb is "if it bled, it is broken".  Spot on to the saying, the xrays confirmed a small break in her nose.  We were referred to an ENT.  The ENT said she was fine, and there was no need for a splint or surgery.  Whew!  The swelling is down considerably, and the color is slowly beginning to fade.  We considered trading in her normal bike helmet (yes, she was wearing a helmet) for a full face hockey mask.  ;)

Speaking of helmets, Kinnley (Mei) has a new one which she picked out herself.  Not surprising, hers is a princess helmet.  Baba kept showing her others, but her heart was set on being a princess.  She really is a girly girl, while also being a "rough 'n tumble".  Her favorite characters are still Mickey Mouse, Dora, and Disney Princess.

Jaci and Kailee are working on numbers and colors with Kinnley during the day.  She is pretty good at simple math facts, but is still converting from English to Mandarin names for the numbers before adding.  I don't know if that makes sense, but it is a multi-step process for her.  We talk about the math problem in English ("one plus two equal ?").  She can say the numbers in English, but then converts into Mandarin ("Ee + Are = ?") before she can figure it out.  Progress.  Someone once told me it takes 4-6 months before they start "thinking" in English.  So I suppose this makes sense.  Our goal is to get her ready for Kindergarten by September.  At the girls' school, they progress through Kindergarten and first grade in one year.

Several people have asked how Kinnley is handling my return to work.  Well, it is going "ok".  She is definitely used to me being at home full time.  I have the flexibility to work from home several days a week.  My "office" is the travel trailer behind the house.  Wednesday, I came inside for a quick break mid-morning.  Kinnley refused to let me hug her.  "No Mama" she said as she pushed me away.  She even refused to look at me.  My heart almost broke in two then and there.  I tried teasing her and talking gently to her, but she wanted nothing to do with me.  By lunch time, she was finally ready for a hug.  Man, this little girl is going to be hard on my heart.  Can you imagine the teenage years?  Lord, help us!  I suppose I should feel very blessed.  She is attached and bonded to us!  But I gotta say, the cold shoulder is a killer.

A few new vocabulary items from Kinnley:
- "Mama, honey can you help me?"  LOL
- "Listen to this"
- "This is good and yummy"
- "Oh my goodness!"

My crepe tree is finally blooming.  I had a camera ready to grab a few pictures.  The tree is almost as pretty as the girls.  :)  If you look closely, you can still see a few pastel colors around Lainie's eyes - poor thing!