Concussed

Oh, the magnolia blooms!  They don't linger for very long, but they are magnificent around here while they last.

I did not think I'd have much to report this week.  A few photos, a rant about Microsoft Word and how it messed with my thesis, and how I got so crazy fed up with it that I am switching to geeky LaTeX under Clark's tutelage (not that that is in any way interesting to most people), and that would be that about that. But then, Friday happened.  It was mostly a pretty great day - the kids and I played in the morning, had our weekly lunch date with Clark and our oceanography friends at Swope, then naps and a nice supper. It was so beautiful after supper that we all decided it was a perfect evening for a pre-bed walk/bike.

A very grumpy-looking snapper we met along the way

Juniper is crazy for her bike, and is getting so comfortable riding it that she looks for any excuse to take it for a spin.  So off we went, and she and I got way ahead of the boys.  We got all the way to Spohr gardens, hung out for awhile on the dock, and then decided to head back.  As we got to the path in the forest, Juniper wanted to try "mountain biking" through it, rather than walk her bike as she had done in the past. I hesitantly agreed, with the caveat that she had to go VERY slowly down the hill. So off she went. She started off great, but as soon as the path started to slope downhill, she picked up speed, and quickly got away from me.  "SLOW DOWN!" I shouted, a little panicked.  "BRAKE! BRAKE!" But she went faster and faster, somehow avoiding all the roots and rocks, until she was almost to the very end of the path and then - CRASH.  Down she went.  The bike had picked up so much speed that her little feet had flown off the pedals.
Clark and I ended up being equidistant to the crash site at that point, and both went running. Juniper was wailing, blood was pouring out of her mouth, and she was repeating "my head! my head!" My immediate reaction was to find the source of the bleed, and to calm her down (she was clearly frightened out of her mind). A badly cut lip, and a scraped chin seemed to be the worst of it - there were marks on her forehead from where the helmet had impacted when she fell, but her teeth were intact, and her neck seemed fine.
It was only a few minutes later, after she had calmed down, and Clark was carrying her home, that the severity of the situation hit.

"Ow", said Juniper.  "My lip and my head hurts. How did I hurt myself?"

She had no recollection of the accident.  No recollection of biking, or of Spohr gardens.

So. After a quick phone call to the nurse hotline, Clark whisked Juniper off to emergency, and they spent the evening getting assessed. A cat-scan, and a few consultations later, Juniper was sent home with the diagnosis of concussion, with strict orders to rest for at least a few good solid days.  No physical activities, and nothing mentally taxing (including 'thinking' games, videos and the like).

That night was a little rough (Juniper woke up many, many times, either complaining of a headache, or thinking she was going to throw up), and then the next morning she was clearly still feeling very woozy. After finally vomiting, however, she perked up considerably, and from there on in, the hardest part of the weekend was trying to come up with activities that did not involve much moving or thinking.  Not an easy task, let me tell you!

We decided that the best thing for everyone would be for Clark to keep Linden occupied and out of the house as much as possible (chances were very high that he would end up injuring himself, Juniper and the whole house if he was cooped up for the day), and Juniper and I would lay low.  So here is what we ended up doing:

1) Art.  I decided this was within the realm of acceptability.  Plus, I had been saving some new glitter glue for a special occasion.

Glitter-glue heaven

2) Baking.  Oh, how we baked. Cookies, muffins and bread, to be exact.

Filling the muffin tins

Just before getting to sample the cookies

3) Reading. This was a little borderline for me on the "acceptable activities" scale, but I figured if I was doing all the reading, it couldn't be that mentally taxing.  Plus, we are currently reading Roald Dahl's Matilda, which is a chapter book with only sparse illustrations, so it wouldn't be too visually stimulating, either.  We read a LOT of Matilda.

4) Skyping. I don't have any pictures of this, but boy oh boy, Juniper was keen to call and/or skype with whomever might be interested in hearing her story. 

5) Photo-Walk.  After naps on Saturday, the boys went to a BBQ at Peter and Kelly's house (we were, of course, all supposed to go, and Juniper was VERY sad to have to stay at home), so I proposed a nice leisurely walk.  We would bring the good camera, and Juniper could decide what we should take pictures of, and she could choose one shot that she could take herself (she's never  before been allowed to use the SLR). This was actually loads of fun.  Naturally, the pictures were pretty much entirely of the flowers in bloom.  Here are a few:

Juniper carefully photographing her flower of choice.

Looking out over Oyster Pond before heading home 

On Sunday, after a big family breakfast  including pancakes, bacon and eggs (Juniper's request), we decided it was OK to venture out en masse. We went to the village, had a snack at Coffee O, visited with Ben and Liz, and (after some deliberation, and a whole lot of pestering from Linden), went to the playground.  Juniper was SO good about just sitting still and chatting while Linden went wild - it couldn't have been easy. It also helped that Liz brought her back to their apartment halfway through to play with the stamps that she had bought for Juniper for just such an occasion.  So thoughtful!

Linden getting swung wildly on the spinning tire.

 For supper, as a treat, we headed to Friendly's (Juniper's choice, of course).  I had forgotten how incredibly awful Friendly's is. We have successfully managed to avoid it for quite a nice long stretch now, but gave Juniper free reign on the decision making this time around.  I ordered "chicken" "soup" (yes, both deserve their own set of quotation marks), that was so gelatinous I could literally eat it with a fork.  Needless to say, I ate very little of it (and yet still managed to get my yearly intake of sodium). BUT, the kids got their ice cream, so all's well that ends well, I suppose.

Super serious about getting the last drops

Double cone. More sugar than she gets in a month.

Hopefully this week will be mostly normal.  We are going to try and keep Juniper as low-key as possible; especially with respect to things like jumping and running and biking.  Luckily, she is not afraid of her bike at all - in fact, she had a good little cry that we wouldn't let her ride it on Sunday. Heartbreakingly, she's been beating herself up about the accident ("I should have known better than to go down that hill!", she has exclaimed over and over), but we keep trying to tell her that accidents happen, and that all she needs to do is to practice going slowly.  Because truly, that was the crux of the matter - she can pedal up, down and around and over all types of surfaces, and she can stop very effectively.  But clearly she does not yet know how to do the in-between - how to apply the breaks enough to slow down, but not enough to stop entirely.  We all learned that the hard way.  Juniper is, however, keen to practice as soon as she's allowed, so hopefully this will all be behind us soon.

In the end, we are all mostly just  marvelling at the irony that it was Juniper who ended up needing the ER before Linden.  What are the odds?

Here's to hoping for a fantastic, accident-free week!