Opal at 28 Months

Opal got her cast off at the beginning of June and did great with the actual removing of the cast with the saw and the loud noise.  We brought noise canceling headphones, suckers, and everything Elmo.  We also role played how the cast removal would go for several days leading up to it. What I did not anticipate however was the severe anxiety that Opal has for riding in the car since she broke her arm.  She screamed in terror all the way to the doctor's office, each bump or turn prompting new levels of screams, and by the time we pulled in the parking lot I was seriously considering calling from our car to cancel her appointment - which is saying a lot, considering I had been counting down the days like a kid awaiting Christmas for this cast to be off.  It was just Opal and I, and I didn't know how she was going to handle the x-rays and removal if she couldn't handle the car ride.  With a sucker in her mouth (she was too terrified to be pacified by a sucker on the drive there) we got our temperature checks (I'm shocked I didn't have a fever because I was sweating like I did from the drive there) and rode the elevator up to the doctor's office while I practiced deep breathing and prayed to God for strength.  And wouldn't you know, as soon as we stepped off of the elevator, besides some hiccups and a splotchy red, tear-stained face, you would never know she had an issue on the way there.  The gray hair on my head is definitely from Opal.    

Thankfully Opal meets the height and weight requirements needed for a forward facing carseat, so we switched her seat and it has helped over a period of a few weeks for her to calm down.   As I type this, it is two months out now, and she is doing fine in the car, however we now have a sucker addict on our hands who thinks that every car ride still equals a sucker.  We are down to one sucker a day.  Her anxieties have moved on to other things.  We are still on the struggle bus, and she is definitely working through something triggered by her broken arm.  She has fits screaming that she is falling and is scared to sit in her high chair unless Will or I (or both of us if we are there), put our feet on the legs of the chair while she eats to ensure its stability.  Most recently, she wants her arm off, does not want her arm anymore, and can we please take it off?

I do think that the broken arm saga has occurred at a developmental milestone in Opal's life that seems a tad unfortunate.  She is definitely in the throes of being two, and is fiercely independent and knows her own mind very clearly.  I think her growing knowledge of the world has led to a lot of fears and she is struggling to move past them.  It breaks my heart and exhausts me at the same time.  I've seen a meme that says, "I don't have a favorite child, but I have a child that I try really hard not to wake up."  In the below photo, Opal has just woken up (on the wrong side of the bed) and is adamantly telling me why she is upset: her cereal is not the same as the one on the box - where are the raspberries that are pictured?!

We go for walks every day, and have done so for most of Opal's life.  She is not content to ride in the stroller now unless there is food.  She just wants to walk.  Will and I cannot get the exercise levels that we need at the pace of two-year-old legs.  So our walks become a hostage negotiation situation, but in this case, we are trying to keep the person hostage.  God bless parents and their abilities of distraction and bribery.  Ultimately, we end up letting her walk for a bit, but always, always, have a food bribe in our back pocket to get her back in her stroller so that we can get home.

In case this post is too raw and honest, I have saved the best for last.  Although these past few weeks have been rough with her, she is still the apple of our eye, and loved beyond measure.  Her little body just snuggles so perfectly into us, and we all live to make her smile or laugh.  Here she is below, getting love from her sisters, who she refers to as "ladies."  She will yell up the stairs when dinner is ready, "LADIES! DINNER TIME!"  At bedtime she will go in her big sisters' room and say, "Good night ladies!"  The bottom, right hand photo below cracked me up so I had to take a picture - I asked Lucy to take one for the team and give Opal a ride around the house in her doll stroller so that I could get something done, and Lucy reluctantly obliged - while continuing to read her book while walking on her knees so she didn't have to stoop.  She'll make a good mom.  

Thank goodness Opal has three older sisters, as she can usually find a playmate if she is persistent enough.  I keep telling Violet that in another year or two, Opal will be a great friend to her.  The brother I played with the most growing up was the same four year age difference as Violet and Opal are.  

For some reason, Opal likes to sit on top of Legos.  Whatever floats your boat, kid!  She loves swinging, and playing outside.  Thank goodness we are going through this rough patch while the weather is nice!

This sweet baby is loved so much.  My mama heart is praying for her anxiety to lessen, and we are also taking her for bodywork at our chiropractor and we have also consulted with Opal's pediatrician and our homeopath physician.  We are confident that this will be a passing stage, and Opal will be back to her happy, dancing self in no time.

Here is my sweet baby below, in clockwise order from top left: having her Elmo smell a twig of lavender that she picked in the backyard, smiling for the camera, and playing with two turtle paper weights - she told me one is the mama and one is the baby, and she is having them kiss.

Sweet baby of mine, as our family favorite toddler storybook that I now recite by heart after reading it to my four girls these past eleven years - I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak says, "I love your happy side, I love your sad side!  I love your silly side, and your mad side....  I love you through and through, yesterday, today and tomorrow too!"