Broken Ankle

So I haven't blogged much this summer. But someone informed me that one day I might look back on all this and laugh and wish I had pictures. I'm not sure I'll ever get to that point, but just in case, here goes. Here is a picture of me with my boot. I've spent most of the summer stuck at home elevating my broken ankle. I am just grateful they decided to let me have the boot over a cast. It is really nice to be able to take it off at the end of the day to rest my foot.

The first 3 weeks I could only walk on crutches. I had no idea how hard it was to get around on crutches and I'm sure being 8 months pregnant and gaining weight every day didn't help, but it was seriously hard. I now have this amazing admiration for people I see getting around with crutches. The last three weeks I've been walking with just the boot on and it's slowly getting easier to get around. We had our own little broken bone club in my family this summer. My dad and I both had broken ankles and my grandma broke her shoulder at the same time. We threw Carter into our club from his broken leg in March and you really start to wonder if we all need more calcium or something. :) I'm glad my Grandma and I could bond a little since neither of us could do anything else.

It's been a pretty boring summer for the kids but they've been good sports for the most part. Carter's spent a great deal of time being my doctor and checking up on my broken ankle which has been very helpful. Here he is the patient and is laid up with his own broken foot. Luckily he got better fast! I have to say that he has an amazing compassion for people who are hurt. I think it came from his own experience of breaking his leg while he was so little. When I first broke my ankle he would come in from playing to check on me periodically and ask, "Is your foot feeling better." I heard him tell his sisters several times, "I need to go check on mom's foot." And even today, six weeks later, the first thing he asks me every morning is, "is your broken foot better?" I think he'll be even more excited than me when I finally get this boot off for good.

Peterson Family Reunion

We spent the first day of my family reunion at This is the Place Park. The girls were so excited to go. They love this place and were excited to go with all their cousins. It's Emily's favorite place and she had been counting down the days. I had been looking forward to going with all my family but stayed home since I couldn't walk on my broken foot. John promised to take lots of pics for me.

This pictures for Emily. She was so excited to get a picture of real pioneer kids. She tells me that she dreams about what it would be like if she was a pioneer. She also wonders if she could just get across the mountains if she would be able to see real Indians and Pioneers.

The girls loved going to "Little House on the Prairie" school. They got to learn about pioneer schools and do their work on little slates.

On the 2nd day of the reunion we went with all the cousins to the Highland Splash Park. Then to a park for lunch, feeding ducks, etc..
Kelsie's favorite part of the reunion was playing with Mason. She just adores him and he lights up when he sees her. It's so cute! She says she hopes that her baby brother is just like him cause he's the cutest baby ever. I think she's going to be very helpful with her baby brother which I'm really excited about.

Emily was thrilled that there was so much open space everywhere we went so she could spend her time practicing her gymnastics---which is what she spends most of her free time doing.

Carter liked hanging out with his bestest cousin Ashey and getting really, really dirty.

The Difference a Teacher Makes

Today I just have to say what a difference a talented and caring teacher can make in the life of a child. This is something I've always been quite passionate about, especially in a school setting, thus the reason I majored in Early Childhood Education in college.

But today I saw this in a different light, outside of a school setting. Today I'm grateful for my little sister Kandace, who also happens to be a talented and extremely positive gymnastics teacher.

If you asked Kelsie a week ago she would tell you, "I hate gymnastics." She took gymnastics at a local establishment last summer. She found gymnastics to be hard (not something that came naturally for her) and she had a couple of very bad experiences with a teacher who was very negative and impatient with her when she was trying her best. I became angry as I watched these interactions and pulled her out, firmly believing that my child's self esteem was much more important than any skill the teacher was trying to teach. Kelsie walked away with a negative feeling toward the sport in general and her ability to do anything involving the dreaded "bars" in gymnastics. This isn't really a big deal in life, it was just hard for her because her little sister is very talented and LOVES LOVES LOVES gymnastics (especially the bars). It has been a source of competition and contention for Kelsie over the last few months, despite numerous conversations about how everyone is talented in different ways, etc... Nothing I could say or do could seem to erase the impact of that bad experience.

Today Kelsie decided to try a gymnastics class at my sister Kandace's studio. She has been taking tumbling there this summer but decided to TRY gymnastics one time. I was wary of the experience because I didn't want her feeling bad about herself again or comparing herself to Emily.

I sat, at little on edge, and watched the class. There were a lot of really positive moments but the amazing one to me was when my daughter got up to the bars. She was nervous and uneasy but she was willing to try it. With the help of her teacher she accomplished the task at hand and went on to flip over the bars several more times, with her smile and confidence growing visible with each attempt.

She came up to me after one class of gymnastics with a new confidence and desire to try. She said she "loved gymnsastics and the bars." I was truly amazed. What was the difference between her last experience and this one? It was a teacher who was positive, patient, and caring and put the way a child feels about themselves as her first concern. It also took a teacher was talented enough to know how to help all children, not just the kids who things came naturally to. That is the kind of teacher all children need and deserve.

In the end, it really doesn't matter if a child learns the specific skill being taught if their self worth is destroyed in the process. It is too bad that some teachers lose sight of that along the way. The most important thing is that they feel loved and valued for who they are. This self worth is what will allow them to try new things and find success in whatever they choose to do in life.