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Sunday, October 5 was a beautiful fall St. Louis day. We began the day with church immediately followed by two birthday parties. We were looking forward to a wonderful day together as a family. The first party was Joey's friend, Clayton, and was a pirate party. Above is a photo of Joey (on the left) with his friend Clayton.

The second party ...well...what can I say? We got there in time for present opening and cake. Danielle was playing on the bottom step by the grass and another child at the party threw a ball for the dog from the top step of the deck. The dog took off after the ball and ran into Danielle. She tried to hold her own and planted her foot on the step. Her leg twisted and she fell over into the grass onto her bottom. Mike brought her to me crying and I told her that she was fine, not a scratch on her. She sat on my lap and did not want to go play with the other kids. After about 45 minutes, I finally convinced her to go and draw with chalk. After a few minutes, she began crying hysterically. If you know Dani at all, this is not her personality. She has never been a cryer. It is close to 2pm and Mike and I think she is just waaay past naptime and needs to go home.

She doesn't nap but about an hour and is up and crying again and refusing to put weight on her right foot. We call her doctor and then go to the emergency room. It turns out that she has a buckle fracture in her tibia close to the ankle! She was placed in a temporary cast for the night and Monday we took her in for a permanent cast that will be on for four weeks or so.

Dani is such a brave girl and didn't cry at the ER or the orthopedist today when the cast was put on. She has only had two doses of Children's Motrin Monday, so I think she tolerates pain a whole lot better than I do! Her injury has caused me many tears, but at the same time, Mike and I are so thankful that it is a treatable injury, no permanent damage and we are truly blessed by our God for the protection he gave to our little girl during her fall.

While looking on the internet, I learned that what Dani has is often called a "toddler fracture" and it is a common fracture of toddlers and preschoolers. It occurs when the child is running or steps on something on the floor and loses their footing. A sudden twisting of the tibia "shin bone" causes a fracture. The theory as to why these fractures happen is new stresses associated with ambulation are applied to bone that has not previously been accustomed to such stresses in the nonambulatory infant. They commonly happen to children who are just beginning to walk. Dani began walking 2 months ago at 17 months, so she is a classic case.

Hopefully, we will not have any other exciting news like the above to share with all of you in the near future. Please keep our Dani in your thoughts and prayers. Also, please keep Joey in your thoughts and prayers, too, as his sister is receiving a little extra love and attention these days and he doesn't really understand why and so acts up to try and get his share of mom's time.