Advice needed

[velochic]

Dd broke her foot over the weekend - yep, she was a kitty cat for the day (communicating in meows and the whole act) - and didn't quite land like a kitty cat when she jumped off of the bed. We go today to get it put into a cast. Tomorrow she starts school - oh joy!!

Just wondering if anybody has information about what parenting hurdles I can expect over the next few weeks dealing with a 4 year old in a leg cast. She is very easy-going and a very happy-go-lucky girl. (Boy, I never thought I'd say that after 3 years of constantly needing to be held & nursed!!) We live in a 2-story house with a finished basement (playroom) so we are carrying her a lot right now. I'd like to help her walk independently once she has the cast on. I'm looking for activities for her, too. Dd doesn't watch TV, but I allow some videos. She's over-the-top into crafts and reading. But she is also a huge outdoors fan. I'm worried about getting her out of the house in these weeks of nice weather leading up to fall here in the midwest.

So any thoughts from those that have btdt? Thanks!

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Don't know if this will help any, because I have not had a child in a cast as a parent. When I was six, I broke my leg and my collar bone. I think my parents were successful in keeping me inside for one day. I even rode my bike with my cast on.

I would ask the doctor to what degree you need to limit activities. I suspect it won't take her long to figure out how to maneuver with the cast, and I think that keeping active actually speeds healing (at least it seemed to in my case - they were able to take the cast off early).

[Rivka5]

I agree that she'll probably be getting around on the cast pretty quickly. Will she be using crutches, or is it a walking cast? Either way, she will probably surprise you. When I was a baby, I was in a cast from my armpits to my toes... and I actually managed to crawl like that!

You might also want to consider renting a wheelchair for longer distances and/or crowded places where it would be easy for people to bump into her or knock her over.

Sedentary outdoor activity suggestions (from my Girl Scout days):

Carry her to someplace outdoors. Sit down together, close your eyes, and listen carefully. Put up one finger for every sound you hear. Afterward, talk about the sounds and try to figure out what they were.

Two-foot safari: make a circle of string about two feet in diameter. Go to an semi-wild location (the overgrown edge of a park is good), throw the string in the air, and spread it out wherever it lands. That's your safari circle. Get down on your belly and study the space within the circle - what living things are there? Is there evidence that other living things have passed by?

Find a creek to sit beside. She can paddle her hands in the water, build little bridges and dams with sticks and rocks, look for minnows and newts (get her a minnow net, after explaining about "catch and release"), etc.

Build fairy houses. Find a spot that's rich in natural materials, like a thicket of bushes, and build tiny "houses" and "furniture" there out of what you find on the ground: rocks, sticks, leaves, flowers, etc. If you have little fairy dolls, they can live in the houses; otherwise, use your imagination.

If you live near a lake or a pond, teach her how to skip stones.