Fracture or Sprain?

Amelia woke up this morning and said her left foot hurt. She would not put any weight on it at all. She's done this before but within a few minutes is usually running around. After a half hour when I realized that it wasn't going away, I gave her some Motrin and we went to church. I thought by the time Sacrament Meeting was over her foot would feel better and she would be walking again. However the Motrin seemed to do absolutely nothing. We took her to Primary anyway, and then called the doctor for an appointment. Luckily they were willing to double-book their appointments to see her.

She has definitely injured her foot. It's swollen and painful on one side. The doctor put a compression bandage on it. We'll have it x-rayed in the morning. We think she hurt it yesterday one of the several times that she wrecked her tricycle. It only hurts if she tries to stand on it, and we need to keep it elevated, so she's happy to lay on the couch all day watching movies; shes on number five right now. Her brain is going to be fried.

When she was seeing the doctor I told him that she wrecked her tricycle several times yesterday. She piped right up and said, "It's a bike!" I had to apologize to her for my mistake.

Then she had a sucker, which is all she cared about in the first place.

We'll know more tomorrow. Hopefully it's not a break but just a sprain that will heal in a few days. She's happily playing the invalid right now, but I doubt that will last long.

If it is a break, this is the first broken bone in our family.

Crossing my fingers...

Amelia's Conversation of the Day...

At the dinner table on Thursday evening:

Amelia, looking at Isabel's food: "That's nasty Isabel."

Isabel: "What?"

Amelia: "Your food sounds nasty."

Isabel: "You mean it looks nasty?"

Amelia: "Eat it Isabel, it will help you breathe underwater!"

Recipe: Simple Stuffed Peppers

I forgot to take a picture of the cooked ones, so this is raw and probably nicer to look at than the cooked ones.

Another co-op inspired meal (you're going to get sick of hearing that!). I found myself with a lot of peppers as well as onions and needed to do something with them. I also keep garlic, olive oil and rice on hand at all times. Ground beef is hit or miss around here. Sometimes I have it, sometimes I don't. This would probably work really well with mild pork sausage in place of ground beef or even ground turkey. If you need to stretch this further you can add more rice.

Simple Stuffed Peppers
(Serves 8)

8 medium-sized fresh bell peppers (any color is fine)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
1 cup of cooked brown rice
sea salt to taste
pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the peppers in half, remove any white and the stem (if desired). Arrange in two 9x13 pans.
3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add in the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft, about 10 minutes.
4. Add in the ground beef and cook, breaking up into small pieces with a spoon, until thoroughly cooked, about 15 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and add in the rice. Mix thoroughly.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.
7. Fill each pepper half with the meat/rice mixture.
8. Cover each pan with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until peppers are soft.
9. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and let cheese melt before serving.

Amelia and the Great Chocolate Bar Fiasco

Another selection from my continuing series entitled Life With A Three-Year-Old...

One day last week Amelia asked me if she could have some chocolate. I said no. She was not happy. She threw a complete fit, crying and begging me for chocolate. I put her in her room and told her to stay there until she was done with her fit. She wouldn't stay in her room. So I went into my room and locked the door. I tried to concentrate on a movie on my Kindle Fire, which Amelia calls a Ken Doll Fire. She spent the next several minutes beating on my door, crying and begging me for chocolate. I was strong, I didn't give in.

Then silence, nothing. I thought I'd enjoy my movie until she came back in a better mood. A few minutes later I heard a little knock on the door. "Mommy, I'm better now!" she said. I opened the door. She looked very happy. "I ate one of Isabel's chocolate bars under the piano!" Then I noticed the slight ring of chocolate around her mouth. Isabel has been selling chocolate bars for her Orchestra trip. I asked Amelia where she got the chocolate. She said from Isabel's box on the counter. Great. I asked her how many bars she ate. "I don't know, there's only one left!" she told me. Great. I told her to bring the chocolate wrappers to me. She did. Luckily, there was only one. I put $1.00 in Isabel's box to pay for the stolen chocolate.

Later I got into my purse to get a baby wipe, and noticed that the wipe box was covered in chocolate which looked like smeared poo. Great. At least Amelia tried to clean up after herself. I tried to wipe all of the chocolate off of the wipe box, which has a fabric cover and isn't washable. There are still chocolate stains on it. Hopefully no one will think it's poo. I bet they will.

Isabel took the rest of the chocolate to her room later that day.

I wonder what Amelia will do next time she wants chocolate?