Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Normal

It's not a word those of us with 'special' kids hear very often in conjunction with our kids. Except when we do.

We got a letter yesterday from Olivia's developmental pediatrician. She saw her almost two weeks ago. Her doctor specialized in Down Syndrome but since there aren't many (any?) doctors who specialize in 5p-, we consider ourselves lucky to have drawn this doctor when we first asked for a referral to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

And she always remembers Olivia even though we only see her once a year these days.

At her last appointment, we discussed potty training.

I mentioned that we'd never gotten that kidney ultrasound that Dr. S. wanted almost two years ago.

We got it that day.

The letter we got yesterday stated that O's renal ultrasound showed 'normal kidney function.'

Which...yay!!! How awesome is that?

Seriously, I got so lucky with Miss Olivia. Her heart is perfectly normal, her kidneys are normal. Her brain is normal.

Everything about this kid is normal except that one little deletion in that fifth chromosome.

Heck, even her behavior is normal these days. In that, she's a normal, stubborn four year old who wants to do what she wants when she wants to do it.

Which means that right now? She wants to wear pull-ups because it's too time-consuming and boring to pee in the potty.

She proved last year that she can tell us when she has to pee and that she can hold it until she's on the toilet. But she's regressed.

And it's behavioral. Which is normal.

And for that? I'm grateful. Isn't that what we always want? Normal? Each parent who hears that something is wrong with or different about their child just wants normal. They just want their child to have normal challenges, a normal life.

Right now, we've got that.

Who knows what the future will bring?

For now we'll take the normal, even if it brings tantrums and stubbornness and frustration because in the end, it's what we wanted all along.

1 comment:

Tiffany said...

I love any kind of normal.