avocado8

Strenuous

I was a little worried that (a) my ankle wouldn't be healed in time for the Vancouver tournament, and (b) that all this sitting around would leave me out of shape even if it did heal in time. (a) is still a possibility, but I don't think (b) is. GOOD LORD, getting around on crutches and up and down our stairs is strenuous! I feel like I ate a ton of food yesterday (again, while worried about (b)), but then I realized I was eating so much not because I was bored, but because I was hungry. And I'm hungry because I'm blowing through whatever meager energy stores I have just getting down the hall to the bathroom and back.

This morning I took the Beaner to sharecare in a taxi because I obviously can't push a stroller on crutches, and I can't drive our car because it's a stick (working the clutch definitely requires ankle movement). I didn't make him lunch; instead, I just threw a ten dollar bill in his backpack. I also didn't make him breakfast, but that was mostly because he said, "it's OK, I don't need anything." (That kid is SO SWEET.) I said, "how about a cookie cracker or two?" He readily agreed that a couple Carr's whole wheat crackers (which are kind of sweet, hence the "cookie cracker" moniker) would be perfect, so I got him those and threw the remaining three into the backpack.

I nearly fell when I went to fill his sippy cup with Rice Dream, and he admonished me for about the 100th time to "be careful!", which is actually more cute than annoying. After that I called for the taxi, managed to get the double stroller out the front door and onto our stoop (thanks to Aura for putting it near the front door for me on her way out last night), and asked the Beaner to go down about two steps and sit, which he did. Then I got myself and my crutches out the door, locked it behind me, and sat on the steps with him.

I have the best kid ever.

When the taxi pulled up a few minutes later, I asked the driver to put the stroller in the trunk, and then told the Beaner to go ahead and get in, which he did. He sat directly behind the driver, which I wish I'd had time to stop and take a photo of, because he looked so cute—like I was going to shut the door and wish him safe travels through the window. I asked him to scoot over so Mommy could get in, and he did. As we pulled away from the curb, he said, "this is a green taxi. I like green taxis!!"

In the rush to get the Beaner safely out of the taxi at M's house, I realized I'd forgotten to tell the driver we'd be continuing on to Julius Scissor at 21st and Locust (luckily only a couple blocks away), and I did *not* realize that I'd forgotten to give the Beaner his sippy cup (which I'd stashed in my purse for the ride). Oh well. I got to Julius' place about 30 minutes early, and I could see the Tuscany Cafe almost two blocks away on the corner of Rittenhouse Square, but I quickly calculated that there was no way I'd have time to hobble down there, drink a coffee, and get back before my appointment. Instead I sat on the steps and called my sister.

Next I got another fabulous haircut from Julius.

I will probably style it differently tomorrow after I wash it, but right now I'm digging the pompadour.

Since it was only 10:30am, I didn't have a meeting until 1pm, and COFFEE WAS IN SIGHT, I decided to try to make it to the Tuscany Cafe. And here's where we come back to the 'strenuous' theme, because boy, was that a workout! I had to stop several times to rest—and once to adjust the crutches from 5'8" to 5'9" (I think the orderly set them at 5'8" instead of the height the nurse shouted at him because he wanted to discourage me from leaning on the tops, but for this kind of trek I really required a little more support than just my hands)—but I made it, and it only took 10 minutes, not 15. Woo!

I ordered a decaf double-tall latte for here (because there was no way I could carry a coffee) and, after realizing that I'd had no breakfast, decided to blow my sugar budget on an M&M brownie. It's probably a testament to how low my glycogen stores were that the brownie didn't taste very sweet at all, despite the frosting and M&Ms. The coffee, meanwhile, was near perfect. Score another 9.5 for Tuscany Cafe! (Three out of four coffees I've had there have been near perfect; one was about average Starbucks level, which is still fairly good.)

Yay.

Luckily there was a taxi stand right outside the cafe, so I was able to get home easily. The next difficult task, however, was getting up our front steps (I did a combination of going up backwards on my butt and crawling forwards), assembling all the things I'd need for a long stint in my upstairs office (yogurt, cheese sticks, camera, ice pack, bandana for tying ice pack around ankle, cell phone), and then getting up two short flights of stairs and one very long one. I hopped up the first two, and then crab-crawled on my butt up the third.

The Beaner doesn't need the baby gate, but I do: It keeps me from pitching down the stairs if I mis-navigate in my office chair (which is more efficient than crutches for getting down the hall to the bedroom).

I estimate that I burned about 800 calories this morning.