God Chooses a Mum for a Disabled Child by Erma Bombeck
Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures, and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen ? Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth; son; patron saint, Matthew."
"Forrester, Marjorie; daughter; patron saint, Cecelia."
"Rudledge, Carrie; twins; patron saint... give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."
Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."
The angel is curious. "Why this one, God ? She's so happy."
"Exactly," smiles God.
"Could I give a handicapped child a mother who does not know laughter ? That would be cruel."
"But has she patience ?" asks the angel.
"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independance. She'll have to teach the child to live in her world and that's not going to be easy. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."
The angel gasps, "Selfishness ? Is that a virtue ?"
God nods. "If she can't seperate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, there is a woman I will bless with a child less then perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word.' She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Mummy' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it!
"I will permit her to see clearly the things I see --- ignorance, cruelty, prejudice --- and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."
"And what about her patron saint ?" asks the angel, his pen poised in mid air.
God smiles. " A mirror will suffice."
Sunday, 1 February 2009
1st February 2009
Catch up for the New Year
Well it won’t be long before we have to buy our Louie some cruising shoes! He is confidently cruising along the settee, working his way around the kitchen table & moving around the kitchen by way of the cupboard door handles! This also means we have had the laborious task of putting cupboard locks on all the kitchen doors! An additional plus to this is that Louie’s brother & sister can no longer raid the cake & snack cupboard!
At 16 months Louie is a very confident (and fast!) crawler, showing very positive signs that independent walking won’t be far away. His brother walked at 14/15 months & his sister at 15/16 months, so Louie is still keeping up with the family pace!
He seems to be a better sleeper these days, (still only gone completely through the night just the once though!) now only waking once or twice & re-settling with water & a cuddle in the cot. Unfortunately he is not keen on cow milk or formula, so we are unable to give him a bottle or cup of milk at bedtime – Time will tell how long I can keep going now the little man has 5 perfect, & very sharp, teeth!
Louie is becoming very vocal with a range of different sounds & songs. There is definitely some understanding with his communications, as post bath I stand at the top of the stairs with him & he ‘calls’ for Daddy to say good night without prompting! At the moment Daddy is a ‘Taa Taa’ sound! Mummy is a definite ‘Muummma’!
His weight is currently 21lb & he is wearing 9 to 12 month clothes. With the clothes size Louie is again at much the same size as his brother. They are very similar in build.
As far as health is concerned, he had 2 weeks of bronchiolitis before Christmas, which meant an emergency trip to hospital to be checked out. Other than the usual run of cold & viral infections, Louie has had nothing out of the ordinary.
He eats exceptionally well & has recently taking a liking to jumbo raisins, particularly if Mummy buys the ones covered in yogurt!!!! (Just a few of these ones!)
Nanny & Grandad bought children’s electric toothbrushes for his brother & sister before Christmas, which Louie took an avid interest in! Like many wee ones, he doesn’t particularly relish tooth brushing time, so I bought an electric one for Louie too! He thinks it’s great! Still refuses to open his mouth sometimes, but he gets a much better clean with the electric brush than the other brush!
We now attend 2 toddler groups each week, which is notably improving Louie’s confidence. He is very interested in other children & seems much happier to move away from me in new environments than he has been of passed.
When we go out, Louie still steals the limelight & shopping seems to take considerably longer as strangers ‘ooh’ & ‘aah’ over him!
As one professional said “he doesn’t have the typical features of a Downs baby”, so maybe people don’t know he has Downs. Maybe they do. Maybe they are not sure. But no one has crossed ‘that fine line’ of looking/staring just yet!
With the turn of the New Year, we now have a plethora of tests coming up – hearing, heart, and thyroid. Fingers crossed all will be well. There are certainly no indications to make us think otherwise.
The little star had his MMR & pneumococcal last week. Not a whimper did he make. What a brave little soul. Very much our little shinning star.
So without doubt our little man continues to be healthy, very content, full of smiles & giggles, incredibly loving and very, very loved.
Mummy 1st February 2009
Catch up for the New Year
Well it won’t be long before we have to buy our Louie some cruising shoes! He is confidently cruising along the settee, working his way around the kitchen table & moving around the kitchen by way of the cupboard door handles! This also means we have had the laborious task of putting cupboard locks on all the kitchen doors! An additional plus to this is that Louie’s brother & sister can no longer raid the cake & snack cupboard!
At 16 months Louie is a very confident (and fast!) crawler, showing very positive signs that independent walking won’t be far away. His brother walked at 14/15 months & his sister at 15/16 months, so Louie is still keeping up with the family pace!
He seems to be a better sleeper these days, (still only gone completely through the night just the once though!) now only waking once or twice & re-settling with water & a cuddle in the cot. Unfortunately he is not keen on cow milk or formula, so we are unable to give him a bottle or cup of milk at bedtime – Time will tell how long I can keep going now the little man has 5 perfect, & very sharp, teeth!
Louie is becoming very vocal with a range of different sounds & songs. There is definitely some understanding with his communications, as post bath I stand at the top of the stairs with him & he ‘calls’ for Daddy to say good night without prompting! At the moment Daddy is a ‘Taa Taa’ sound! Mummy is a definite ‘Muummma’!
His weight is currently 21lb & he is wearing 9 to 12 month clothes. With the clothes size Louie is again at much the same size as his brother. They are very similar in build.
As far as health is concerned, he had 2 weeks of bronchiolitis before Christmas, which meant an emergency trip to hospital to be checked out. Other than the usual run of cold & viral infections, Louie has had nothing out of the ordinary.
He eats exceptionally well & has recently taking a liking to jumbo raisins, particularly if Mummy buys the ones covered in yogurt!!!! (Just a few of these ones!)
Nanny & Grandad bought children’s electric toothbrushes for his brother & sister before Christmas, which Louie took an avid interest in! Like many wee ones, he doesn’t particularly relish tooth brushing time, so I bought an electric one for Louie too! He thinks it’s great! Still refuses to open his mouth sometimes, but he gets a much better clean with the electric brush than the other brush!
We now attend 2 toddler groups each week, which is notably improving Louie’s confidence. He is very interested in other children & seems much happier to move away from me in new environments than he has been of passed.
When we go out, Louie still steals the limelight & shopping seems to take considerably longer as strangers ‘ooh’ & ‘aah’ over him!
As one professional said “he doesn’t have the typical features of a Downs baby”, so maybe people don’t know he has Downs. Maybe they do. Maybe they are not sure. But no one has crossed ‘that fine line’ of looking/staring just yet!
With the turn of the New Year, we now have a plethora of tests coming up – hearing, heart, and thyroid. Fingers crossed all will be well. There are certainly no indications to make us think otherwise.
The little star had his MMR & pneumococcal last week. Not a whimper did he make. What a brave little soul. Very much our little shinning star.
So without doubt our little man continues to be healthy, very content, full of smiles & giggles, incredibly loving and very, very loved.
Mummy 1st February 2009
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