Coming Soon: New Arm

Dear maker of the portable DVD player. I love you!! You are a dream come true. How did parents travel with their children prior to this invention? I shudder at the very thought. I owe you much gratitude for your brilliant ideas and wisdom. Will you marry me?

The trip to St. Louis was a very nice trip. Thanks to my mom and the ever wonderful portable DVD player. We headed out in the early afternoon on Sunday. Monsters, Inc. was the in-car movie of choice (she’s only seen this about 1,000 times). I thought she would sleep soundly since we kept her up and hit the road close to her normal nap time. Nope, she stayed awake long enough to watch the entire movie. Once it was over, she was asleep in about 2.2 seconds. We made it to Kingdom City before making our first stop. Legs needed stretching, food, drink and just a break from driving. Ashlyn was sound asleep. Well, as soon as the door closed she was wide awake and ready for some McDonald’s. We all piled out of the car and grabbed a bite to eat and prepared for the next leg of our trip. Panic struck when the DVD player wouldn’t work. I thought it had run out of juice, turns out she had just kicked it and somehow hit it just right and turned the power off. Oh well, we made the last bit of our journey without the help of the DVD player and survived…somehow.

We arrived at out hotel just after 6 p.m. We got to our room and unloaded our belongings. Ashlyn has never stayed in a hotel to my knowledge, but when I asked if she had ever been to a hotel she replied, “Yeah, I stay here all the time,” and very matter-of-factly about it. Little knucklehead. Our room overlooked the pool, which of course is closed because it’s an outdoor pool and it’s still way too cold to be swimming outdoors. After unloading all of our things, we decided to get a trial run in to the hospital so we would know where we were going. Good thing too, because Google Maps gave us the run around. Had we not been there before and knew what the hospital looked like and the surrounding area, who knows where we would have ended up. Alas, we found it and it was going to be a fairly easy commute in the morning we hoped. We then set out to go shopping for a bit, just to get out of the car and wander around. I had hoped we would make it there long before we did so that we could visit the Magic House in Kirkwood, MO which looked like a ton of fun for all of us. It closed at 5:30 though and wasn’t open on Mondays. Just my luck. *sigh* We went to Walmart instead. Woo hoo. Do we know how to live it up or what? Eh, it was still shopping. Pretty much the entire town was closed by the time we got there except for all the stores that we have at home.

After shopping for a bit and buying nothing of any real value, we grabbed dinner and headed back to the hotel. Have you ever stayed at a hotel with a 2 year old? Craziness I tell you. Complete craziness. It was probably from being cooped up in a car for 4+ hours, but she had energy to burn. She ran around the room, opening and closing doors, flushing the toilet 100 times, jumping on the bed, climbing in the chairs…it was as though she’d just been let out of a cage. Crazy girl. Needless to say, when bedtime came along she was just not ready to call it a night. We had a battle of wills, and eventually, I won.

The next morning we arrived at Shriner’s. I can’t say enough good things about this hospital. I wish it were closer to home, but other than that I do not have a single complaint. Our appointment was at 9 a.m. We arrived around 8:45. Ashlyn, upon entering the doors, received a beautiful handmade knitted blanket. She thought that was fantastic. When we got signed in at “The Shop” (this is what they call the prosthetic/orthotic making area of the hospital), she got a beanie baby puppy and promptly swiped one for me too. (No worries, I made sure it was okay before we took 2 puppies home). We were seen by 8:55. She was so incredibly good. She sat there while she was measured, marked, cast and measured some more and didn’t act up at all. I did leave the room at one point to go to the car to get her “baby arm” to return to them if they could re-use it, and she was a little worried while I was gone (my mom stayed with her), but other than that she was good as she could possibly be. She sat very still while all this was going on, making it much easier to get things done I’m sure. Then she got to pick out a fabric for her new arm. After much debate and a few “Uh, no” moments from me, we decided on a very pretty pastel colored butterfly pattern. I’m thinking she’s going to want to wear the arm just for the pretty material. She’s so much like me it’s scary. We were informed that this new arm will be a “functioning” arm. It will come equipped with hinges and all so that she will be able to open and close the arm. I haven’t figured it all out yet, but in 2-3 weeks we’ll be headed back to pick it up and learn all about it. I’m excited. I don’t think she has this all figured out either, so I’m eager to see her reaction and to see if she is excited, indifferent or total against the idea. It’s her call. I just hope she doesn’t discount it too quickly.

I had hoped that we would be able to go to the City Museum after our visit to the hospital, but that too was closed on Mondays. Maybe next time our trip will be during the time some of these things are open. *fingers crossed* We could have gone to the zoo or the botanical gardens, but it was still fairly chilly and pretty windy and I didn’t think we all needed to be out wandering around in that. So, after the hospital we stopped for brunch and then headed home. We took our time getting home because it was early and we had nothing set to do for the rest of the day. We made a few stops and even bought her a couple of shirts (because she’s spoiled that way) and then eventually stopped for ice cream in our home town and got home to sit on the deck and relax. Ahhh…it was good to be home.

She’s just such an amazing little girl. I can’t tell you how proud of her I am. Words just don’t describe it. Newly potty trained and logging 8+ hours in a car in two days and not even have the smallest of an accident. She acted up every now and then, but she’s 2, it’s to be expected. All in all it was a very good trip. It was kind of nice to get away for a little while and having her with us was just wonderful. I really don’t know what I would have done without my mom’s help and the assistance of the portable DVD player. I probably would have just gone with earplugs and driving at warp speed. *smiles*