Mighty Milo

Miles has been such a trooper through the whole broken-arm episode.  We were amazed by how little he cried when he fell and through the whole 6-hour ER visit he barely complained.  He pulled into himself, or as he says, he "squeezed himself" so he could bear the pain calmly.  The doctors were quite amazed that he wasn't freaking out.

But the funny thing was that he handled the cast removal process much less courageously!  Pete took him for the appointment and we knew Miles was scared to see what his arm would look like after the cast came off -- because we had warned him the skin might seem a little funny.  He was convinced it would be purple or green or something else awful (even though we kept reassuring him it wouldn't!).

So the doctor took off the cast and then they had to walk down to a room to x-ray the arm.  All the way down to the room and back, Miles refused to open his eyes.  They had to guide him like a blind man!  Then when he came back to the room to wait for the doctor, he would only do this:

Very zen, but also very irrational.

It took several hours for him to finally feel comfortable with his arm without the cast.  He was quite relieved, actually, when the doctor told him he had to wear a brace for a few more weeks since the bones weren't all the way healed.  When we tried to wash his hand/arm for the first time, he cried and cried and cried -- way more than when he broke it!

But still, we are very proud of our little man.  All month with the cast, he has maintained his independence, finding ways to get dressed, do his school work, etc., all more than we would have required or expected.

All 3 left-handers

 This past Thursday, Pete had to leave very early in the morning, so Miles was the only one awake when he came downstairs a little later.  Somehow he remembered that it was Thursday, then noticed that Pete had forgotten to put out the trash and recycling, so he did that job all by himself - -with a broken arm!  I have no idea how -- or why - -he did it.  Later on when Pete called to tell me he had forgotten to put out the trash, I was so surprised to see it at the curb.  I asked around to see who had done it, and Miles was very matter-of-fact when he told me it was him.

We love our little, strong, independent guy!