After returning home from Hartfield for Thanksgiving, it’s a tradition that we always get our Christmas tree as soon as we’re back. This year was no different. I always enjoy having our tree up. With the lights and ornaments on, it always gives more brightness to the cold and dark winter evenings. Each year the girls take turn putting the angel on the tree, and our tree is never decorated "for style” but it has lots of ornaments with memories attached to them that we love pulling out and hanging every year.
Our neighborhood also got into the holiday spirit with a Winter Wonderland event at the town center that cooincided with the opening of a new, state-of-the-art library in our town center. The girls absolutely loved the library. It’s spacious and open with big windows and lots of areas for meeting up, doing homework with friends, reading, working on projects, etc.
The very next day, Lyla fell out of a tree and landed pretty hard on her arm. Her wrist was what she was complaining about mostly, so we put some ice on it and hoped it would feel better. By the next morning it was bruised across the top of her wrist, and she complained of having a hard time sleeping unless her arm was laying flat on a pillow. It was also still very sore the morning after the fall, so we decided to take her in to get it x-rayed. Initially, we got good news that she didn’t break the radial bone, but the doctor at the hospital center was concerned about her growth plates being damaged, so he put her in a temporary cast that was hard on the bottom and soft on the top, and told us to see an orthopedic.
We had an appointment with the orthopedic this week and found out that she did damage the growth plates on either side of her wrist. The good news is that the bones all still lined up straight, but in order to make sure it stays that way while the growth plates heal, she’ll have to be in a hard cast for the next four weeks. While it’s a bummer to have this happen, we are glad that she won’t be slowed down too much while it heals. She’s a lefty, so it’s good that the injured arm is her right, plus she’ll still be able to play soccer and be active with the cast on as it will obviously protect her from any further injury. It’s waterproof, so she can play in snow if we get it also. :) She got it signed by all her friends the next day at school which was fun, and while this isn’t what we like to have happen, we’re thankful that it wasn’t much worse!
This is also a very busy season for Nina. After two years of doing cheer, she switched gears this year and tried something completely different. She knew she loved to dance, so we signed her up for a once-a-week hip hop class. Them she also decided to give track a try. We really didn’t know what to expect as she has never had any experience with track or any running programs before, but she started in September just taking some pre-season workout sessions. She really liked it, so she did the same for the month of October. When sign-ups for the indoor track season came around for November, she really wanted to keep going with it, so we signed her up with Ashburn Elite Track (which is where she had been doing the pre-season workouts). She started in at the club level team and just before Thanksgiving she was offered to move up to the higher level team (the Intermediates). She’s been doing a great job, having lots of fun, and it’s been keeping her really busy. She’s running short distance, learning high jump, and learning hurdles.
At practice last night she found out she was selected to attend the AAU Mid-Season Championship track meet at the NY Armory on January 6. She’s super excited and we’re very proud of her for all the work she’s put in. We didn’t know how it would go switching sports at 12 years old, but we’re just happy that she’s loving what she’s doing, enjoying her team, and this new challenge. It definitely seems like she’s hit her stride with track (cheesy pun, sorry!).
