The Transformation of Zebra

"Zebra" is one of William's favorite buddies. Those long arms have lent themselves well to helping William get into plenty of trouble: knocking Dad's hats off the Hat Room wall, knocking anything off of any flat surface, flailing at someone he's annoyed with. None other but The Grinch has had to go into time-out more often.

Zebra and William have long been partners in crime.

Last Tuesday night at bedtime, William was being especially resistant to putting his toys and cards away so he could go to bed. He was yelling at his dad who was threatening to put toys into time-out. Usually he's good about letting me treat his Alopecia (bald spots on his head due to an autoimmune disorder) with ointment, but that night he was too grouchy. He nicked Zebra out of where he'd already been put away for the night and sent those long arms flying at me repeatedly where they hit home. That's automatic grounds for a time-out for Zebra, but it's not as easy to get a toy away from William as it used to be. William is big, strong (he lifts weights at school), and surprisingly fast. That Zebra was masterfully evasive, and in frustration at my failure, I lost control and balance, falling backward onto the floor. I caught myself with my left hand, heard a snap, and heard myself swear under my breath (unusual for me; never happened before I was a parent.) 

I curled up in pain, cradling my wrist wrapped in a cold pack Jon fetched for me, while David finished prepping William's CPAP machine, read to us from The Bible, and then managed to get ointment on a newly-sobered William's head. (He is especially sensitive to when others are hurting.) Once preparations for sleep were completed, I held out both of my wrists to David to comparison-check for swelling. That's when we realized my left wrist was now crooked and we had better head to the emergency room, so Jonathan took over putting William and himself to sleep.

It's been over a week since then. The emergency room made some bad calls (according to the orthopedic surgeon I saw this week), so the bones in my wrist still haven't been set. That will be taken care of in surgery this Monday. It's the first day of Fall Break, so the boys and I slept in (David still had to work). William got up before I did and woke me, so I had a lot to help him with before I could have the benefit of pain medication that must be taken with food. Zebra was being so helpful during the process, assisting William in removing his pajamas, then putting on his clothes. I winced as I sat down next to William on his bed, to help him with his socks and the brace for his sprained right ankle. 

William and Zebra both gestured to my left wrist. "What happened?"

We'd had this interchange many times over the last week, so he said almost at the same time I did, "It broke."

This time, he added something from which I picked out, "being mean."

"Someone was mean?" I asked.

"Yeah."
"Who?"

"Zebra."

"Zebra was being mean?"

William and Zebra both nodded.

I looked William in the eyes and said, "I'm glad that Zebra is being nice now."

He smiled. "Yeah."

Charming Zebra waving "Hello!"

This school year started out with the usual "honeymoon" period with William excited to be back. Then there were a few weeks of problem behaviors both at school and on the bus. This could have been due to several factors: pushing boundaries, sprained ankle (which because of his high pain tolerance we didn't catch and start treating until recently), recent onset of puberty, and normal adolescent challenge of authority. Whatever the reasons, the challenging behaviors at school abruptly stopped after I broke my wrist. The change in him over the last week was so marked that his teachers had to adjust the reports they'd already prepared in advance for his IEP meeting two days ago. I told them, "Well, if it took my wrist breaking to snap him out of it . . . (no pun intended.)" They laughed.

We'll take the learning experience.