racing chairs
the boys signed up to do a 1 mile fun run for the benefit of an orphanage in zimbabwe. we took some folding chairs so the older folks could sit while the younger folks ran. 30 minutes before b's race he was lounging in one of these chairs. it's got rather short legs and is very close to the ground. he grabbed the sides and tried to scootch forwards. the front legs collapsed and folded under scissoring his fingers between the aluminum pipes. OUCH! worse, the full measure of his weight was pushing down the seat trapping both hands. he could not free himself. he started screaming. his mother started screaming. i picked him up by the armpits and the chair fell away. the knuckle joint between the proximal and intermediate phalanges was crushed to half its normal size. but it articulated okay. swelling quickly restored it to its normal size. and then some. x-rays showed a complex fracture running the entire length of the proximal bone. it's in a split now. he won't be able to play baseball this week. fortunately, there's no baseball next week anyway because of spring break. (yeah yeah, call the pun police.) kids tend to heal fast. oh, his time for the race was 7:42, a personal best.