Be Kind

Yesterday I read this article published by The Age newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia.

It got me thinking.

Last year, when R was recently diagnosed, I struggled with the question, "Does this mean I have a special needs child?"

I was also asked that of several well-meaning people, although at the time it was hard to answer.  Because R seemed so normal aside from his speech delay, it was really hard to come to terms with whether or not he was a special needs kid.

Admittedly, I as a parent would not have actively chosen to have a kid who has special needs.  I realized that while I am taking this journey with R.  But for reasons I have yet to fully understand, God has blessed us with this little boy, SPD and all.

And by His grace, I know that there are others in worse situations than us.

I am in several Facebook groups.  In one of them, I read of a little guy named Caleb Munn.  As of this posting he is eight months old, and is recovering from a liver transplant.

Yes you read that right.

Caleb was diagnosed at two months old with a severe liver disease called Biliary Atresia.

SPD and Weaning

When I was pregnant, a good friend of ours who happened to be a doctor advised me to breastfeed my baby.  Hubby and I were naturally agreeable to that, and I spent many weeks during that time studying and learning everything I can about it.

I read up and watched everything I could get.  From Dr. Jack Newman's breastfeeding videos, to On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo.  I will comment on the latter some other day as it's really long and might cause controversy.  Suffice to say that by the time R was born, it wasn't really of much help to me.