Bike rider

Anybody that knows my Crandaline knows that she is not Ms. Athlete!

Bless her little heart. She loves playing sports and games with her sister, cousins, and friends; but, an athlete she is not. She is definitely a runner, and has the long legs for speed and endurance (I think track and field and cross country will be her sport). But, every time she kicks a ball it goes about 6 inches in distance, every time she throws a stick it usually goes BEHIND her head, and every time she bats a ball she usually ends up missing. My little Cran!

Anyway, I was so darn proud of her today at Toys R Us. The ugly weather sent us looking for something to do this afternoon indoors. They love riding the bikes and trikes at Toys R Us, and Maddie hopped right on up on a 16 inch girl's bike and away she rode. She pedaled perfectly, steered it correctly, and even used the brakes properly. I guess she is one that likes the hand brakes rather than the pedal brakes. She was SO incredibly proud of herself, and told us she would like Santa to bring her a big bike.

My Cran was super bike athlete today! 

Stiff neck

A wonderful way to begin the day:

Beebster comes out to the living room this morning and I wonder where Maddie is. She tells me, "Dee owww. Dee, neck oww. Dee no (and does the motion for running---yes, she could very well be an Indian with the sweet way that she talks!)". I figured something was wrong. When I went to check on them in our bedroom, I saw Faith sitting on our bed with the bin of My Little Ponies and asking her beloved Dee, "Dee, play with me?" while Maddie is laying flat on our bed and immobile.

Maddie told me her neck hurt, but I didn't realize the extent of it. She didn't move for the next three hours. She clearly had her first ever stiff neck, but it turned out be so scary since we've never experienced this in Maddie's life. Dan usually shrugs off my tendency to over-react, but even he was worried sick when she asked for him to take her to the bathroom finally at 10:00am and he had to hold her stiff as a board as if she were on a stretcher. She would cry out in pain if we even attempted to move her-- not even cry, but rather scream this blood curdling scream. 

She just must not have known the level of pain in a serious stiff neck, and since this was her first she didn't know how to deal with the pain. And, we were automatically thinking all sorts of worst-case scenarios in the backs of our mind. We were more than just a little relieved when she finally started to feel better by the time Abrie got up from her nap and had eaten. Thank goodness.

******

The relationship between Maddie and Faith was so clear today when Maddie wasn't feeling well. Faith didn't even know what to do with herself without Maddie playing with her like they do almost every single second of the day, literally. Faith brought two puzzles in to our bedroom-- one for herself, and one for Dee and she sat there on the bed doing her puzzle next to Maddie. Even though Maddie wasn't doing her puzzle, I think it gave Faith comfort to be next to Maddie. When she realized Maddie was really not wanting to do anything besides lay flat as a board on our bed, Faith did the next best thing and lay down right next to Maddie and pulled the sheets over herself. They are an inseparable pair.