I have written this post about 5 times now...deleted it and then started over. I just cannot find the right words (i know....gasp). I have discussed my opinion of the phrase "special needs" before. Quick recap on that...What child is NOT special needs? Every kid I know has a unique personality which makes it necessary to care for them each in different ways. Some kids have medical needs, others have snazzy attitudes, some are harder to potty train, some bounce off the walls, some have trouble learning to read etc. etc. Point is...ALL kids are different. They learn, play, eat, sleep, poop, walk, talk, color and share DIFFERENTLY.
So...to the point. Sometimes when I am bored (ok let me clarify...bored is a word I use for...when I should be doing something else that I do not feel like doing) I browse other blogs. A blog that I check occasionally tracks the life of a premature child. This precious and SO adorable little boy has several developmental delays (he is along the same lines as brody). I read a post of hers that really got me thinking...the phrase special needs bothered her a little. She did not feel comfortable admitting her son was special needs. She felt like his needs were difficult and explained to her readers the extreme amount of attention and work was necessary for him. For some reason...this annoyed me. God has gifted us with the most incredible journey. The opportunity to love on someone He designed just for us. Now dont get me wrong...in NO way was she complaining at ALL. But the fact that she was reluctant to admit her son had "special needs" made me just think think think. If someone came up to me one day and said "hey I talked to God and he said you can press this button and all of Brody's issues (medical, developmental etc.) will disappear" i would throw up on his button. Brody has changed our lives in the most amazing way. Maybe I am the crazy one...maybe I am the one that just pretends like he is perfect (and this is mostly because i TRULY believe that he is)...
All I know is that I hardly consider Brody to any more special needs than Bryce. Each of his milestones are just THAT much more exciting, even when he does accomplish them a year "late". I have some more thoughts on this that I will save for later...but for now...Thank you God for creating all my kids just the way they are. I would NOT have them any other way.
