The Price Is Right

The other morning Jack runs in the house more excited than I’ve ever seen him. “Shelly laid eggs! Shelly laid eggs!!!” Shelly is our painted turtle. So, I went outside to look and sure enough, Shelly did lay eggs. We read about what to do with turtle eggs and made a nest. Meanwhile, Jack was jumping up and down in the kitchen like a contestant from “The Price is Right.” You know, when Bob Barker parts the curtain and says “A NEW CAR!!!” Jack was listing everyone that he was going to call in rapid succession “Mamma, Joanne, Grandma, Jon….” The list went on. “See Mommy! I told you shelly was a girl and that she was pregnant!” What’d ya know. He was right. He’s probably right about her age too. I love that these kids have such curious and adventurous minds. Andrea is the researcher of the bunch, because she can read the best. Jack is more determined to read than ever so that he can do the same. Ava wants to start “doing her homework” so she can learn to read because she wants to cook like Andrea does.

Andrea was baking zucchini bread yesterday when all the egg-citement started. (That was so cheesy, but Jack loves using the word “egg” to start words like ‘excellent’ and ‘expert’.) Andrea stopped what she was doing to research painted turtle habitats and egg laying habits. We made a safe nest for our little hatchlings and there they shall stay for the next 10 or so weeks in our nice warm garage (not to exceed 92 degrees Fahrenheit).  The kids were worried about the baby turtles so they prayed for them before bed.

Gabriel laid a few little ‘eggs’ of his own… in the bathtub. Of course, we actually get excited when he does that. Before his bath he said he wanted to sit on the potty. He kept saying pee. The minute I set him on the toilet, he started a stream. It trickled to a stop and I asked if he had to go more. He did it again and this time left a little surprise with it. I don’t even want to get excited because it makes me so happy when something ‘normal’ happens so rarely that when it stops, it makes me so sad. I know he can’t potty train like other kids, but it felt so good that he did it. I wish I could learn to just take it for what it is and not set my expectations so high that the disappointment is unbearable later. When I cathed him after his bath I didn’t get enough to even warrant an overnight cath. That was great. This morning he became really upset (he has been lately) over being cathed. Again, I barely got anything out of it. We’ll just take it a small step at a time.

Gabriel came home from physical therapy yesterday with rave reviews! Ever since he got a new walker that he hates a little less than his last one, he is taking more steps on his own. I was thrilled to see him walk down my driveway BY HIMSELF! The trick might be to get Karen Rickey to live at our house because when she goes home so does the magic that motivates him. He showed off for his dad a little bit. He tells us he’s “done” and that is final. Karen said he drives the electric wheelchair by himself. I haven’t seen it yet. It sounds cute, but I don’t really know how it will feel to see him in a wheelchair for real. I’m afraid.

When Gabriel was a baby, I’d look up kids with spina bifida on Youtube. You know, just to see how they walk when they do walk. I would cry so hard that that’s what Gabriel would someday look like if he could even do that much. Now that we’re there, I realize what a huge accomplishment it is and we’re the parents that clap like winning contestants on a game show. I’m not kidding. We jump and cheer and clap like we just won the grand prize. And we mean it. So, if Gabriel ever does a bridge in front of you, it’s because he’s expecting you to clap. He is trying to make your day. He loves to make people smile and laugh and he’s good at it.

About a month ago, I dreamt that I was comforting a mother who had just given birth to a baby with spina bifida. It was the worst kind, too. I couldn’t comfort her. There was nothing I could say. I just put my arm around her shoulders as she stared at her baby and cried. All I could say was, I know it hurts. I can’t tell you that it will get better, but you’ll see that it will in some ways. Maybe the dream just represented my current-self comforting my old-self back when he was born. I don’t know what it means, but I know that in some ways, it has gotten a little bit better. We’ll take every ‘little bit better’ that we can and count it a miracle and a blessing.