My three youngest children from China have physical special
needs.
While we absolutely do what is necessary to address those
needs, we do not treat our children
like they have special needs.
I didn’t realize quite how well we accomplished this until a
little episode that took place recently….
I took all the children to the dentist for their 6-mo. Checkup. Gabriel slept through all the fun,
snuggled on my chest in our new mei tai (may tie) carrier, but it was time for
the older four to have their pearly whites checked and polished up again.
After the cute little dental assistant escorted Daniel and
Lily Kay to the back first (why has everyone started looking so young these
days?) she came back to me and asked, “Has anything changed with Lily Kay’s
medical issues?”
I bit my lip and thought hard over everything that has
happened over the past 6 months…and then answered, “No, nothing has changed.”
Lily Kay is my daughter who has a chronic congenital Adrenal
issue that she will deal with her entire life.
She takes medicine three times a day.
She has had a belly-full of not-fun medical procedures and
surgery.
She has frequent blood draws and endocrinologist appointments to monitor her medicine
dosages.
She wears a medical alert bracelet 24/7.
She has a subcutaneous implant in her arm that (thankfully) took the
place of the shots we were having to administer to her on a regular basis.
But Lily Kay?
Is just Lily Kay. Our
crazy, funny, energetic daughter/sister/constant comedic relief.
When the dental assitant left after asking me had anything
changed with LK’s medical issues, Elisabeth (who shares a room - not to mention LIFE - with LK) looked
at me and said:
“Does Lily Kay have medical issues?!?!”
And that? Made me think we're doing something right.
And that? Made me think we're doing something right.
It is great when kids can look beyond the special needs, whatever it might be and see them as a child like them. That they can be just as fun and do just the same as non special needs kids, they might needs to make adjustments or be a little bit slower, but they can still do it. You are a great mom.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! My daughter from China fell and scraped her knee at the park a few months ago. She came and sniffily told me about it, and I said, "Which one?" My other kids looked horrified. Hannah wears a prosthetic leg on one side. Oops.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are doing a great job!!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing a great job just keeping things "normal"!! Sounds like a great way to teach our children. I think we do for the most part as well. Except for one thing. Nathan's vomiting. Everyone is really clear he has a "medical" condition. Otherwise everyone would drop him like a rock thinking he always had a stomach bug. No matter how cute he is..no one really liked to cuddle someone with a stomach bug, right? :)
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