Don't They Come with Filters?

Dear Theo. He is three and with that comes a lack of verbal filter as well as no volume control. Nathan and I are constantly reminding him to "use your inside voice." In the past 12 days, I've ended up having to take all three kids to the hospital twice for Theo to get his pinkie x-rayed after a fall in the backyard. He'd fallen, cried a bit and then got up to play again so I thought nothing of it. Well, over the next few days it swelled up and was quite painful if he brushed it against anything. So, I took him to the doctor who suggested we get an x-ray to make sure it wasn't broken, specifically on the growth plate. The first x-ray came back negative and the discoloration disappeared but the swelling and pain remained. Twelve days after the fall, we decided to get a second x-ray and this is where Theo's lack of filter came into play.

We walked to the hospital after dinner figuring it'd be a quick wait at radiology. Of course, they couldn't find our order so registration took a bit longer. The gentleman who was registering us was very kind. As I was talking to him, I hear Theo yammering away and catch the word "rumple," our word for passing gas. I look at him and smile which he takes as consent and proceeds to pass a very loud rumple. Great. He then looks at the older bald mustached gentleman with a strange eye condition where he frequently blinks and bulges his eyes and says, "Mama, that man looks like a monkey." Thankfully, the man was on the phone with our doctor and I pray did not overhear. Theo is a truly phenomenal mimic, his all time great being a full body mimic of Gabriel's few day old fontanel (soft spot). Two minutes pass and Theo looks at me mimicking the man's eyes and says, "My eyes don't do this. (blink, blink, blink)" Mortified, I send Maddie and Theo around the corner to find something, anything to do.

Anyhow, we survived the rest of the adventure to find out little buddy did in fact break his finger. He received high accolades for his great finger placement to resemble a cockatail during the x-ray, "better than most adults." And luckily the finger was healed enough that a splint wasn't necessary.