Sunday Snapshot - Resourcefulness

Sometimes we just need a little around here - resourcefulness that is. Having 5 kids, 3 dogs and one cat requires a little resourcefulness every now and again. Like using your 95 pound Shepherd mix to pull your sisters around the block in their little red wagon! Oh wait - that's laziness not resourcefulness - or is it both! LOL!

Anyway, there are times that a little resourcefulness goes a long way.

Like the other day...

Ever since Lizzie came home, she has had one little fingernail and one little toenail that had me worried.

Her sweet little fingernail I recognized right away because it was so much like a few of my brother's fingernails, tiny but thick and very hard to clip.

Her little toenail (that is similar to her fingernail) is on one of her toes that turns inward, which meant it constantly jabbed into the side of the toe that lived next door. Ouch! It had even made a little dent in the side of that unfortunate toe!

I have searched different websites on ABS or Amniotic Banding Syndrome to try to find a solution or even a reason. I assume it could be from lack of blood supply to the nail, resulting from a band wrapped tightly around the finger and toe? I really don't know and this was all I could find:

With Amniotic Banding no two cases are exactly alike. There are several features that are relatively consistent: syndactyly (webbed digits), distal ring constrictions, deformity of the nails, stunted growth of the small bones in the digits, limb length discrepancy, distal lymphedema (swelling), and congenital band indentations.

I don't suppose the reason matters very much but I did want to get those nails clipped and I did not want to hurt her, she had been through enough.

I tried the clippers but the nails were just too thick and it seemed to hurt my Lizzie, which was totally unacceptable!!

I tried am Emery board, but again, the nails were just too thick! Besides, have you ever tried to get a 3 year old to sit still for more than, oh I don't know, 10 seconds?? Just not happening!!

Now don't get me wrong, Lizzie is one tough cookie, enduring 21 weeks of clubfoot casting with a terrible, horrible skin condition underneath those casts that would have made a grown man cry for his Mommie and his Grandmommie!!



A pic of her face that same day!! I didn't show you the pic of my man crying for his Mommie! LOL!

Oh yeah and in the midst of it all, 2 hand surgeries, a small surgery on her non-clubfoot and a tenotomy. At one point, she had a cast on both legs - and still walked herself into the doctor's exam room!!

Amazing!

But the conventional nail trimming methods hurt her and that was enough for me. So who do I go to when I need a little resourcefulness? Why hubby, of course! I can always count on his innovative spirit and his love of a good challenge!!

And what did he recommend?

What all good male people recommend - tools!!

He pulled out his handy dremel tool...



and began to file away!



About 5 minutes later, we had perfectly filed nails and no more dent in that poor little neighbor toe!!

They were trimmed and filed and ready for paint!



Mod Mauve #70 paint, that is!!



Resourcefulness. I think it is essential in any family but in particular, maybe, a "special" family, like ours. We solved this one but I know there will be more. There will be buttoning a button or tying a shoe, mastering the monkey bars, playing a musical instrument or even typing on a keyboard, but I know our Lizzie. I KNOW how resourceful she is and I have no doubt that she will solve them all and she will solve them all with grace and style and smidge of attitude! Like so many kids with special needs, she is full of resourcefulness, determination and spunk and I would not have it or her any other way!!!

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