The Little Things That Make Us Smile

Someone once told me that at some point you need to just find the humor in some of your child's behavior and not let all the frustrations get in the way (this person has a son who is on the autism spectrum).  

For a very long time now, we have been trying to teach our daughter how to get dressed/undressed.  Sometimes she fights us on even trying and other times she starts but has difficulty completing the task and needs hand over hand guidance to finish.  Needless to say, our morning and evening routine of getting dressing and putting pajamas on can take a very long time and it is frustrating but we continue to keep at it.

My daughter and son share a room and the other night they took quite awhile to settle down and finally when all was quiet I went up to check on them.  I walked over to check on my daughter and I couldn't help but smile and start laughing to myself because this is what I saw....

I  felt like she needed a little mermaid fin!  Many times when she tries to put pants on she puts both her legs into the same pant leg.  She must have taken her pants off and tried to put them back on and then obviously fell asleep.  That's my girl!  (Please disregard the mismatch of pajamas she is wearing!....we also fixed her pants so she did not sleep like that the entire night).

Waiting

    Three weeks ago my husband and I, along with our daughter, sat in the waiting room at a clinic for special children.  This visit was occurring because her neurologist was questioning if she  may have a genetic disease called Rett syndrome (a regressive disease) and was recommending genetic testing as a source to possibly determine the cause of her developmental delays.  This was a situation I never imagined I would be in.  

   This clinic is a unique place in that they specialize in genetic diseases that occur in persons with Amish and Mennonite background (which my husband and I both have).  Her doctor seemed very knowledgeable and got right down to business.   He wanted to know last names/maiden names of our families to determine if there may be a genetic disease that run in those family names.  It was actually interesting listening to all of this, however reality set in and I remembered this was to determine if my daughter may have one of these diseases.  At the end of the hour and a half they took blood from her, my husband and myself with the plan to do three different genetic tests.  If those came back negative, then they could run a much bigger test looking at myself and my husband's blood work as well.  

    It was somewhat sobering on the ride home as I was scared and nervous but also relieved that we may find out some answers.  After the initial thoughts of this set in, the days that came were fairly normal as we waited.  I don't know if it was the next day or a few days later, but one day I realized that I was completely calm about this.  My husband can attest to the fact that I am a worrier and I surprised myself of this inner peace.  I can only explain it as the Lord granting me peace and patience in the waiting.  I decided that if we were going to get bad news then I was going to be thankful of this time of "not knowing".  Of course there have been times of weakness where I completely talked myself into "knowing" that she has Rett syndrome or another disease but thankfully those moments have lasted briefly and then the peace returned.  

    One week went by and we got a letter in the mail from the clinic.....my husband and I were both standing in the kitchen and we just looked at each other.  We opened it and had relief when the first test for HERC2 was negative!   About two weeks went by with no other responses.  At the three week mark from our visit (which is today) I needed to know what was taking so long.  I called the clinic after saying a short prayer and was told that the third test usually takes awhile and we would know by the end of the week.  I then asked about the test for Rett.  They had done the test and the result brought tears to my eyes: negative!  Just to confirm, I asked the secretary one more time and she said, yes, the test was negative.  Thank you God!

                                                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~
   As a final note, I will say that I have appreciated the support, encouragement and prayers of our families.

THE UNEXPECTED

   I am the kind of person that usually has most of my day planned out because I like to be productive. I know I am not the only person out there that does this!!!  So, when something unexpected happens, it really throws me for a loop....
   On Monday I did the usual get up, drop my daughter off at preschool, run errands, pick her up from preschool, come home get the kids lunch, play a little, then off the kids go to nap.....then it's my turn to get my projects done or relax (o.k. so the relaxing piece doesn't seem to happen that often!).   I had just put my son down for a nap and was starting to walk into my daughter's room when out of the corner of my eye I saw her run to her bed and trip over something hitting her head on the wooden base of the bed.  The crying immediately followed.  Now my daughter is somewhat clumsy and tripping and falling is not out of the ordinary for her.  Usually I pick her up quickly, look her over to make sure there is no blood, etc. and then we cuddle until she calms down.  This time when I picked her up and looked at her I saw this...

   So....I freaked out for a bit!  Yes, I am in the medical profession, but when you see a gaping wound on your daughter's forehead, all logical thoughts seem to go out the window.  I did have enough sense to put pressure on it, but now what?  How do I get her and my sleeping son in the car and drive to the ER?  I frantically called my neighbor to see if she could watch my son, but she was not available.   Then I remembered that my husband had a half day at school (Thank you Jesus!).  I called him and he came home immediately.  While waiting for him, my daughter and I both calmed down and once he was home, I took her to get stitches.  Took two of us to hold her down and I have to say this little girl is stronger than I thought she was!  She was back to her normal self on the way home and at 4:30pm she finally got her much needed nap!