It's the Little Things

When you become a parent, one of the first things you hope your child does is reach those developmental milestones (crawling, walking, talking, etc.). When you're a parent of a special needs child sometimes those milestones are reached, sometimes they take a little longer, sometimes they are not reached at all. For my little guy, he was right on track for everything but talking. Until he was almost 3 we could barely get any eye contact or any talking. For someone like me, who loves to talk, it was almost unbearable. One thing you definitely learn with children, special needs or not is the art of patience. I totally 100% admire those parents who have non-verbal children. I remember reading something in a newspaper or magazine before my little guy talked about a woman who was complaining about how her child wouldn't stop talking and asking questions. I remember thinking, wow, I would love to have that problem!!!!!! I always hoped that one day I could have a conversation with my son. Just remembering how hearing him call me "mom" for the first time still brings a tear to my eye even to this day. I was thinking this morning that my son has come a long way since those days of not talking and no eye contact and I know that he has a long way to go. This morning as I was getting him ready to go to school (which he loves) I was telling him that I was going grocery shopping today. I was like "so, would you like me to get you anything special from the store?" He didn't miss a beat and said, "popsicles!" A smile, a hug or even eye contact is a huge thing for a child with any type of special needs. The next time you see a parent with a special needs child give them a smile, believe me it will make their day!

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