Firsts

Today has been a day of several firsts...
1. Will climbed up into his fort ALL BY HIMSELF!!!! This is a HUGE victory!!! Due to the fact that his prosthetics have no ankle & therefore no joint movement where the ankle should be & due to the fact that they limit his knee movement, things like climbing stairs and ladders, & walking up the gangplank into his new fort are tough for Will. Today, he had a friend over & while my friend & I sat inside, we observed the other child quickly make her way up the fort. I could feel Will's determination from inside the house. It took everything in me to not run out & help him up. Literally- I was hanging on to my chair & telling myself repeatedly, "he has to do it, he has to do it" & saying outloud to myself, "You can do it, you can do it," & somehow praying the whole time that he could do it. It about ripped my heart out as I watched him struggle with the challenge. As his mommy, everything in my being wanted to help him out. But I didn't. And he did it. He did it! And you better believe that the second I saw him cross the top line & move into the fort itself, I ran as fast as I could outside to high five & cheer him on. He was all smiles & greeted my hand with a kiss! I'm so proud of my determined son!
2. Will lied to me for the first time today. He threw his plate of lunch on the ground which he knows gets an immediate discipline. We moved to the living room to dole out the discipline & to discuss it. I asked him if he threw his plate - he said no. I asked him how his food ended up on the floor & he said, "I ate it all, Mommy." He actually lied to me. Yikes. That brought about a whole other discussion on telling the truth to Mommy.
3. I'm in tears about this one too (actually, I think I've been in tears for all of these today!)
I just checked my rarely used email account that I use for the WTAWTAW team at the Dallas White Rock Marathon. I noticed an email from last week that had a familiar name in the from box. The subject simply read, "N's dad." (Actually, it had a name there but I am protecting privacy for now.) Yet, there was no message. The combination of the subject line & the from line triggered a memory in my brain from the summer of 2008 when I first heard of another child in the USA with Will's exact same syndrome. Have I mentioned that there are only 12 recorded cases of this syndrome?!?!? It's kind of a HUGE deal to find another person with it - and a kid in the USA, no less. Back in the summer of 2008, I attempted to contact the family but never heard from them. Until now... I think. I've composed countless letters in my mind and considered whitepaging.com the family to send them Will's picture and story but then get too scared to ever do it. I don't want them to think I'm some sort of stalker. But, oh my goodness - it feels to good to be true. This would be the First person we've ever met with the same diagnosis as Will. I just emailed the man back & I'm so hoping this is not some kind of cruel concidence. I would so LOVE to ask questions of another family (their kid is a bit older than Will so they've got more experience in this world.) I would so LOVE LOVE LOVE to introduce Will to a child with his exact same syndrome so that he could form a friendship with him. Oh, I am praying & hoping that this is the same family I think it may be. Please pray that it is! You have no idea what this would mean to our family. And the timing would be perfect I think (I'll explain why later.)
So- those were some of our firsts for today. More fun things to come tomorrow (I hope!)