PARENTAL MILESTONE: MY DAUGHTER BROKE HER ARM. Personally, I never had a cast put on till I was in my 20's. My wife, on the other hand, has had various breaks and sprains. This Shabbos we learned that our daughter takes after her mother.

Earlier this week, at the school playground, my daughter's friend jumped off the slide and landed on her back. Because she had trouble standing, Hatzalah was called and they immobilized her and took her to the hospital. In the end, she was completely OK and was released.

My daughter was not so lucky--at a local playground she climbed up the slide, instead of up the steps, and lost her balance--falling and breaking her radius. Hatzalah took us to the hospital. I never knew that they had seatbelts in the back--they don't show that part on TV.

I'm sure parents who have gone through this with their children know the procedure and what happens at the hospital.

But one thing that became a problem was that my daughter was unable to use either arm--the arm she broke was immobilized while we waiting for the doctor to set it. Her other arm was immobilized so she would not accidentally dislodged the I.V. in her arm.

And then she started to itch.

Her forefinger on her right arm started itching on and off for a couple of hours: but in one particular spot and it had to be scratched in a particular way--which my daughter had great difficulty explaining. Apparently 7-year olds do not handle exasperation well. Since I have short nails, I received a dispensation and it fell to my wife to scratch my daughter's finger.

And her cheek
And her chin
And her nose (at one point my daughter asked her mother to scratch inside her nose. Apparently this is not covered by the mother-daughter contract)

Boy did I luck out.

Then when it came time for X-rays to be taken, my daughter insisted that I not look at the pictures--my daughter seems to be very machmir when it comes to Tzinius.

Friends came after Shabbos with grape juice for Havdalah and food--we had not eaten since lunch. The accident happened at 6:30pm and we got home a little after 1:00am.

My daughter will not be doing any of the written homework that she was given to do over the summer--still, I think she would have 'enjoyed' the benefits of being in a cast more if it happened during the school year. It's a little like when there's a big snow storm...during the week end and it's cleaned up by Monday. What a waste of good snow!

I haven't told my daughter yet that she will still be doing her homework during the summer--my wife and I will just do the writing for her.

Tough break.