When you're living with disabilities you don't take anything for granted. You assume life will go a little different than planned; that milestones will come in their own time and in their own order.
It means you get to celebrate the little things.
A month into the school year my son's grade 3 teacher said K. was 2 years behind in his understanding of math concepts and didn't seem to be progressing. So you can imagine our excitement this month when K. and his EA greeted us at the door and announced that he had learned to carry the one! Two days later he caught on to borrowing!
All of a sudden we started hearing that math was "fun" and "too easy!" So he moved from adding and subtracting 2 digit numbers to working with thousands! All in one week. What a wonderful Christmas present.
A friend dropped in, and as we shared our good news, she looked around at our Christmas decorations.
"Why does your family of 4 have 5 stockings?"
"Well because one is for the hamster of course!" K. answered. "But he'll have to share it with Hamish X."
"Who is Hamish X?" she asked through her giggles.
Hamish X is our fish, named after a fictional boy-robot who saves orphans from cheese pirates and aliens, I explained. What else would you name a fish?
And as we stood in the doorway laughing about math success, hamster stockings, and fish named Hamish, I realized I have a very interesting life.
And I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Merry Christmas!
