This new sandbox is awesome!

Last week I built a new sandbox for the toddlers. It’s not really that big from a two-dimensional perspective–five feet by five feet.

But, I should have been thinking three dimensionally when I constructed it because it took 25 bags of sand to fill it up.

That’s 25-fifty pound bags of sand. 1,250 pounds of sand!

But it was worth the effort. The toddlers love it and spend hours playing in it.

For several weeks before I constructed the sandbox my left elbow was hurting. It became so painful that it kept me awake at night.

I figured that I’m getting to that age when I’m starting to suffer from grandpa aches and pains! So I made an appointment to go to see the doctor. I went in for my appointment, they took some x-rays, and then the doctor entered the room and gave me his diagnosis. I’m expecting him to say arthritis or bursitis or some other grandpa ailment and he says it’s tennis elbow!

Tennis elbow?

I don’t play tennis. The nearest thing I do to swinging a tennis racket is occasionally swatting Sissy with a wooden spoon when she endeavors to wreak havoc on our household!

The good news is that the doctor said he can cure me. But I had to have a shot in the elbow and I have to wear an arm brace for three weeks, 24/7. Three weeks? 24/7?

How did this happen to me?

As you can see from the photo, I’m just a little irritated about it because it’s my left arm…and I’m left-handed!

If I had gone to the doctor before building the sandbox, I never would have been able to complete it before summer.

The doctor said he can cure me. Unfortunately, he can’t tell me what caused it so I can prevent it from happening again

But I’ve got to figure out how I developed tennis elbow! How am I going to keep up with the toddlers with one less arm?

So, how did this happen to me?

I’ve got some possible explanations, but as you might expect, they all place the blame with the toddlers (either directly or indirectly). Here’s four possibilities:

1. Building a new sandbox for the toddlers and then filling it with 25 – 50 lb. bags of sand. (But wasn’t it hurting before this?)

2. Lifting toddlers in and out of car seats, bath tubs, and grocery carts and/or scooping up toddlers from frequent stumbles, tumbles, falls, and other missteps (usually includes holding, comforting, and kissing of the wound).

3. Swatting Sissy with a wooden spoon.

4. Spending too much time on the computer typing this blog.

Which one do you think is the most plausible explanation for my incapacitation?

If this so-called tennis elbow doesn’t hurry up and feel better, then I may have to change the by-line of this blog to: Single, One-Armed Grandparent, Two Toddlers, and One Painful Adventure!