can a 2yr old lie?

[boyohboyohboy]

I thought I would share my experience yesterday with Andrew..

I took andrew up for his normal afternoon nap, to his room at 1130a. He went to sleep while Jakob and I played down stairs. At 120p I heard andrew crying, which was unusual because he usually just get right up and comes downstairs happily.
I went up to find him sitting on the floor crying. I tried to stand him up and he grabbed his leg and said "my leg hurts". He wasnt able to put weight on it. I thought it had fallen asleep while he was sleeping, and once his circulation returned he would be fine. I brought him down stairs and rubbed his leg, but he continued to cry. I gave him some ice to put on it, and after 45 mins. of still crying and fussing about his leg I gave him tylenol. I kept trying to have him stand and walk, but each time he pointed to his knee, and would stand on his toes and not bear weight on his leg. I tried to make him walk but he crumpled to the ground in tears. I couldnt figure out if his leg was hurt how he did it. I went back upstairs and checked his bed, to see if the bedrail was moved, wondering if he could have gotten caught in his bed rail somehow. But it was in place. Nothing seemed out of place. So I called Pete at work and told him what was wrong and he was going to come home to get caleb off the bus and we were going to take andrew to the er for an Xray. In the mean time, I keep trying to get andrew to walk..so he calms down, after about 2hours, and he is fine just sitting there, but as soon as I stand him up he crys, real tears, and sits right now. I felt bad for making him keep trying but it just made no sense. I could bend it all around and it didnt cause him pain. It seemed to be only when he was standing on it, and just the thought of standing on it caused him to cry..so I carried him around the rest of the afternoon. I set him at the table for a snack and he was fine, watching his tv show, and I saw him forget about his leg and attempt to climb down off the chair and stand and he immediately fussed about his leg and sat to the floor.
I figured something must be wrong, so I was able to pick up caleb off the bus and go to the er....it had been 3hours now of messing with this leg. I take all three kids to ER which you know was no small feat! I get to the ER and then entire waiting room was full! I knew it was going to be hours! Being the germ phobic I am , I kept thinking of all the things that the we were going to exposed too!
I sign Andrew in, and we sit down in the back of the ER. Behind me was a large fish tank. Andrew said, " Look fishies!" THEN HE CLIMBED DOWN OFF MY LAP AND RAN OVER TO THEM!
Caleb make a sucking in your breath sound, which kinda mimicked the look on my face! What happened to andrews BROKEN LEG! I called him to me, he walked over to me and said "what mommy!" I said go see the fish, and he again walked right over to them, not a single limp!
So I picked my kids up, put their coats back and walked out of the ER, tired, stressed, but Happily!

How does a 2yr old cause so much drama? I dont think 2yr olds can lie, and fake it! So it was almost 4hours by the time the entire ordeal was done!!

That was monday!!

[MommyToAshley]

Maybe it was a pulled muscle (sort of like a charlie horse) that took some time to work it's way out? I really don't think a 2 year old would fake an injury. If he wanted more attention or for you to carry him around, I think he'd just cry and hold his arms out and say "carry me".

So glad he is ok! But, what a puzzling thing to have happen.

[PrairieMom]

I do think a 2 yo can lie, but I don't think it was a lie in this situation.
We had a very similar situation when Al was 18 mos old or so. I accidentally pulled her arm, and it hurt her, she screamed immediately. I thought I broke it. She refused to move her arm, but she wouldn't even sit up, or walk or anything. I couldn't even move her arm to put her coat on. I rushed her in to the Dr to get an x-ray, and it turned out that nothing was wrong. It took her 3 days to use her arm again.
I think what happened was that it initially hurt when I injured her, then she just got scared of it hurting again, so she refused to move it.

[luvbug00]

humm i have no idea. sounds like he just wanted to be picked up and found a way to force you to do it. kids figure out ways to get what they want and i dont think it is a concious thought of lying or not.