This is not a disturbing story about the frightening contents of a grave that escaped it's confines, or about any native American rituals. Actually this is about my 18 month old baby and her indomitable spirit.

The younger one just touched 18 months. But the little munchkin doesn't seem to notice that. She thinks she should be able to do everything, her 4 year old sister does. The older one shows a lot of interest in cooking, so I have been enlisting her help with a few simple recipes this summer. A cautious 4 year old, she is able to cut tomatoes, baby corn and a few other fruits and vegetables and she loves helping out.

Her 18 month old sister is most annoyed that I wont let her cut fruits too. She makes desperate attempts to reach the stand on which the knives are kept. She was even enterprising enough to pull up a footstool and stand on it to try an reach, but fortunately she is still a few inches too short.

My older one is quite cautious and not particularly adventurous. So recently, I was thrilled that she was enjoying climbing a flexible grid jungle gym in her school. She was excited with her progress and wanted to climb a lot of other things including our furniture. She started climbing on to the top of the sofa and jumping off the back side. For her size and co-ordination, it was quite a safe activity and I applauded her rising adventurous spirit.

But oh oh! The little one wanted to imitate her sister and had a bad fall. She cried a little and pointed to her neck and said “hurting”. But after I comforted her for sometime, she seemed fine. She was also moving her head in every direction. Soon it was bedtime and she went to sleep. The next day she was quite cheerful and went about her daily activities playing, climbing, running, and only occasionally complaining of pain and only for a minute or two each time. But when she still occasionally complained of pain on the third day, I got worried and took her to the doctor.

It turned out she had fractured her collar bone. Ouch! I could not imagine how she was able to do everything in spite of a fracture. And her smiles and laughter were not diminished by it. Neither was her spirit of adventure. Now she has a strap to help the fracture heal, and thankfully the doctors say that, since she is a baby, she will make a quick recovery. Knock on wood.

But these next two weeks are going to be tough for me. The fracture does not seem to deter her from, running around enthusiastically with no concerns of falling or wanting to climb the ladder of the big girl slide and jungle gym in the play area, just like her sister. While I do worry about her safety and will watch her like a hawk for the next few weeks, so the injury can heal well, I can't help but admire her spirit. She rarely cries after any fall. And if she does, it is to get a quick hug, and then return to whatever she was busy doing before she fell.

Her bone may be broken, but her spirit is intact.