A Paw for Christmas

I'll post about Christmas later, but I wanted to show everyone Ryker's "Christmas Paw". On Monday night he burned his hand on the fireplace. Poor little guy is so fast and so eager to pull up on everything - Josh ran to stop him but just didn't get there in time. He screamed for two hours while we ran his hand under cold water. When his little hands turned into blisters, we decided to take him to urgent care. They took great care of him, and wrapped his hand, gave him some meds, and then a sucker. This was his first taste of candy, and I think he thought the whole experience was almost worth it just to get the sucker.

It was so horrible seeing him in pain! I would have done ANYTHING to take his pain away. I know that feeling pain is part of learning and growing up, but I just want to hold him and protect him from everything for the rest of his life! It did help me put things in perspective. This was a relatively minor injury, and he is otherwise healthy and happy. I know there are so many kids out there who really are sick, and it must be so hard for their parents. I am so grateful my little guy will be back to normal in only a couple of weeks.

Here are some pictures of his "paw". They were taken the next day and as you can see he was feeling much better. We will probably need to keep it wrapped for a few more days to avoid infection. He must wonder why we took one of his hands away and left him with only a paw. It's a lot harder for him to pull up on things, but he's incredibly adaptable. He's already using his mouth to help hold on to things. But, I'm sure he'll be very happy when we give him his hand back.

On Christmas morning, Ryker's Grandpa Andersen decided to give him a hand for Christmas. I don't think it was exactly what Ryker had in mind, but he was a good sport about it.