Friday, January 31, 2014

Grandparenting with Grace: Five minute Friday- Hero



 It's Friday and I have joined a group of Bloggers at Five minute Fridays where we are encouraged to write from a prompt for five minutes-then post what we've written linking back to Lisa-Jo Baker's blog.  The only requirement, besides writing, is to be sure to stop by the post previous to yours to give a shout hello and a bit of encouragement.  Today's prompt is hero.

 Go
 Being a hero is no small thing.

Just a little bit of a thing she was. Born early. From the beginning her world felt hostile. Sleep came with difficulty. Food often spewed forth and she would cry. She hated being bathed. Most formulas turned her face, chest, and extremities bright red, raised and angry. Her eyes would swell and we’d be off to the ER.

Movement unnerved her; light and sound assailed her senses causing her to writhe in pain and terror. We saw this all, asked for an answer--but no one seemed to understand-only knew something wasn’t right.

As time passed and she didn’t move to explore her environment as babies usually do, didn’t reach for objects, avoided eye contact, slow to roll over, never crawled, rarely smiled I searched for answers. Her eyes didn’t seem to focus. So, at sixteen months she received the gift of clearer vision with the cutest little pink spectacles .

She hated swings, being spun, or thrown in the air. She startled, became ridged, screamed. She constantly stumbled, so chose to always hold onto something to walk. She avoided foods with textures such as applesauce.

Still today she will put her hands over her ears and cry at loud noises. She can’t sleep unless she is in her room and it is pitch dark. Every little noise wakes her.

Over the past 3 years, we’ve found some answers and have overcome or are moving toward overcoming this little ones sensory issues.  She experiences sensory input at a much more intense level than we can ever truly understand. Our days can still be a struggle, but there is much more smiling going on. She is a hero, because in spite of all of this, she still loves, laughs, and delights us. 
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2 comments:

  1. I'm visiting from the Five Minute Friday link-up.This is a beautiful post. So many trying things, and yet a beautiful and precious little life nonetheless. So glad I read this tonight!

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  2. Thanks for stopping by Ashley. Happy you enjoyed my post; I'm glad I wrote this. It reminds me how far we've come. Proves we can get where we need to arrive. There's always room for hope.

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