Noses and Toes

I was feeling badly about Nadia's leg yesterday morning, and then I injured the fourth toe on my left foot on "the step" in between our kitchen and family room. At first I thought it was a sort of stubbed toe kind of thing that would hurt a lot at first but then the pain would go away rather quickly. The pain wasn't too bad during the rest of the time I was at home (barefoot) however on my way to work (wearing sandals) I began to be aware of how badly my toe was throbbing. I took a look and discovered the top was badly bruised and the toe was swollen. It was very painful to walk and stand at work last night with a shoe on. The swelling has gone down today, but the bruise looks worse. Thankfully the pain is tolerable when I walk barefoot. I am not looking forward to going back to work tonight as I know it's going to hurt again with a shoe on.

Unfortunately of all my 10 toes, this was the worst toe for this to happen to. As a child both of my fourth toes were curved so that when I walked, my third toes would step on my fourth toes. Since I wasn't a very physically active child (most of my time was spent in school, reading, or practicing the piano and flute), it didn't bother me too often. However the first summer I worked (not counting babysitting), it became a serious problem as the toe kept bleeding since I was standing all the time working at McD's and a department store. It hit me then that I'd be doing a lot more standing as a teacher; so I decided to finally go see a doctor and do something about it. They cut the tendons in both toes and removed a section of bone from each toe in order to straighten the toe out. The surgery on the right foot was a success. That toe no longer gets squashed by the third toe. However the surgery on the left foot wasn't. The surgeon offered to do another surgery, but I found the process rather traumatizing so I declined (I was wide awake for the procedure and could feel the pressure of them cutting my bones although I didn't feel pain). Normally it doesn't bother me. It just means when I paint my toenails I only paint 9 nails as that toenail is hiding under the 3rd toe and can't be seen. However it's a problem right now since the top of the 4th toe is bruised and now when I stand (particularly with a shoe on) the 3rd toe is pressing down on the bruise. Ouch! Oh well... this too shall pass! It did hit me yesterday again how we take things for granted until something happens, and then we realize how much pain something like a little toe can cause!

For many months I've been working with Nadia on parts of the body (nose, chin, ear, cheek, etc.). I know she understands some of them because if I say give me your hand she will do that or if I say hold onto Mommy's finger she'll grab my finger. Generally though she hasn't gotten to the stage yet where she'll point on command to a certain body part. Today she did it though! She was sitting in her high chair, and I said "touch Mommy's nose" and she reached out and touched my nose with her index finger. YAY! Afterward I realized asking her to do this while eating wasn't the smartest move on my part since her fingers are usually pretty messy during mealtimes, LOL!