A question about "the arm"...

We've actually been asked some odd question about our sons arm such as "What do you think of his arm?"

What do we think of it? It's an arm, his arm. Albeit missing from 2 inches below his elbow, it's just an arm. ACTUALLY, we love his arm. If he didn't have it, we wouldn't have him, plain and simple.

Another is "What to you think when people look at it?"

That curiosity has the best of them. Which of you has ever seen a tiny little Chinese boy with a missing hand running around all willy nilly? Until we saw a photo of our son, I know that I hadn't. Actually, I didn't even know what our son's special need was initially. I saw a photo of him from the shoulders on up and knew that he was the child we'd been waiting for. It wasn't until we requested his file for review that we knew what was special about him.

Yet another "How do you handle when people ask about his arm?

We answer them as honestly as possible. We don't know how come or why it didn't grow. We assume ABS (amniotic band syndrome) but he doesn't have any actual banding marks on him anywhere. Maybe it just simply was never supposed to be there anyway, who knows. I'm sure the time will come when someone says something rude or hurtful. How will I handle it? I'd like to say with grace, but I'm not so sure. We all know not to mess with a bears cubs. I guess that will depend on if our children are with us or not when the question is asked. But I will try to handle it the best I can at that time.

and "Geez, I guess it really limits what he can do?"

News flash - we're yet to find anything that he can't do that is appropriate to his age. He walks up and down stairs, can climb on the table (although not allowed to), open doors, waive with it, hit his sister with it when he's mad (also not allowed to), pet the dog, hit a balloon, etc.

His arm doesn't define who he is. It doesn't make him any more or less special. It doesn't impede his ability to love, laugh, smile, hug, wave hello or goodbye. When he falls down and hurts it, we kiss it to make it all better, because it's just an arm.

For us it's a blessing. For him it's just how he's made.

"A little this and that'...

Needless to say, our Will is a real whirlwind... He's non-stop, 100% pure boy. Loves to tumble, roughhouse and be in the mix. Climbs like a monkey on just about anything he can get on (along with his baby sister). As a matter of fact, found them both standing on the kitchen table dancing the other day which was a real heart stopper! They are into everything together and great escape artists.

He's discovered the Wii and loves to play Just Dance. I might add that he's got great rhythm and usually beats most first time players which leads to embarrassment by most for his competitor after being bested by the 2 year old dance machine.

Len successfully defended is Doctoral dissertation on the 10th of this month so the kids are now calling him Dr. Dad. We can't say how proud we are of him for this amazing accomplishment. We will head down in May to his University for graduation. We're excited for all the kids to see him walk in graduation, we think it will be a really positive experience for all of them.

Griffin will begin baseball in the next couple of weeks. He's really excited about it and just loves the game. He's doing well in school. Once again our little man shaved his head for the St. Baldrick's Foundation for childhood cancer research. This is his third year! It's amazing that someone so young wants to help others and is willing to alter his physical appearance to accomplish his goal. He likes the fact that people will ask about why he shaves his head so he can explain why he, his dad and Pop all do this together.

Elena is still Irish Step dancing and participating in Girls Scouts. The other night they held a circus variety show at a local theater. It was a cute production and I know the girls like to put on a show for everyone to see. They were dressed as clowns and as cute as could be during their acts. She's doing great in school and would rather be there learning then really anywhere else (gets that from her Dad)

Our tiny little Jocelyn is still as cute as a button and lovable. Her asthma has been more frequent with the warmer weather but we're managing it with her treatments, she's not been hospitalized since the fall and we hope that we don't have a repeat anytime soon. She and Will are like two peas in a pod and need to be together or at least know where each other is at all time.

Wishing Happy St. Patty's day to everyone and happy spring.