A Very Late Paralympic Post...

Australian men win gold in the 400m medley!

5000m gold goes to Abraham Cheruiyot Tarbei of Kenya!

Sors of Hungary wins gold in the 100m butterfly!

Yunidis Castillo wins gold for Cuba in the 200m.

More great images can be found on the Offical 2008 Parolympic Website at ...

http://http//en.paralympic.beijing2008.cn/index.shtml

Magical Wai-Wai

Muriwai, Cyrus and myself went to a local playground with another father and his 3 boys.

At one point, Cyrus (5), O'Neill (5) and Muriwai (3) all climbed (or I lifted them) onto the swinging tire. I was pushing them and spinning them around, and they were all laughing and enjoying their time together.

WaiWai had her "special arm" hooked around the chain with an inch to spare and held the other with her right hand. The control and strength she has always astounds me. As they were laughing and joking together she would often release her right hand and poke her brother or O'Neill in the nose with a squeal of delight. They would beg me to push them higher and faster. Nervously, I'd position myself behind my daughter as she was frequently letting the chain go and loving every minute of this experience with the big boys!

I wish I had brought our video camera for the next scene; it was cuteness personified! They started singing songs together. WaiWai would sling her head back and bellow out the lyrics with the boys, when finished, they would start another school song and off they would go. The well would run dry and I would suggest another song. Finally, I suggested "my God is so big", the tire was moving at a rapid velocity and Muriwai was blurting out the lyrics with gusto. With greater confidence than I, she was also doing the actions; throwing out her right arm and flexing her muscles, making a shape like a valley and mountain and lifting her fingers while making them tinkle like stars. I quickly followed my spinning daughter with outstretched arms, praying that she would not fall - but I quickly realized the faith that she has in her "special arm" is far greater than the faith that I could muster!

Join Us!

Summer has closed down and the school year has rolled in. It seems like a goodtime for parents to get some support chatting with other parents and for our kids to play together and spend time with other kids with limb differences. Uummm, okay, that WAS a run-on sentence. Oh well.

Let's meet Saturday, September 13that Jump n Jiggle in Elk Grove Village from 10am-12noon.

It’s a good location. It’s also pretty inexpensive, parents are free andkids are $3 each. We had one play group there in the past. It’s a bit of a drive for some of us but a spot that allows for good talk time for us and good climb time for the kiddo’s! Hope you can make it!

Not Broken....

I guess we have been in retreat for a few days. Sometimes if I find myself tired or preoccupied I realize that on these days I stick closer to home. At home Muriwai’s limb difference is typical, few people STARE. Few people even see the small smiley face dimple and slash that grins out from the end of her left arm.

By nature I am forgetful and today we ventured out into the confusing tangle of entertainment and absurdity and raw humanity that is our neighborhood. Sticky rice and peanut sauce sounded like a cheap pseudo ethnic experience for my children. We headed out into the noise to get carbed up. While eating Muriwai was stared at by a little girl whose curiosity went unnoticed by her mother for quite a while. Wake up, lady, oh and by the way, maybe you shouldn’t say s**t 18 times in front of small children. When the little girl could not conceal her discovery any longer she ran to her mom. And, of course, I strained to listen…what I heard was a calm and kind explanation about difference and a comparison to Nemo and his little fin. Very cool, and very unexpected. The young mother and I exchanged smiles as she strolled out and I waved to the little girl. Muriwai simply stared back at her and didn’t want to discuss the curiosity afterwards, opting to draw on her placemat and heavily salt my food.

Our son, Cyrus, had picked up on the observation of this little girl when she had been hovering around our table for extended periods of time. And he began recounting some of our playground experiences. “Remember the time that big boy said, ‘She has a broke arm and the other big boy said, ‘No, it is not broke.’” I did remember. If I counted correctly their were about 5 boys and 3 girls and it was a tiring day at the playground. That was the day I told Cyrus that he can speak up for his sister. He can look into their eyes and say, “My sister has a special arm. She was born that way, and she will be able to do anything you can do.”

I could safely say both my kids are not extremely extroverted so I pray they would both learn to have the confidence and courage to speak the truth to unknown kids who were nearly always older.

As we headed home today a small group of kids were on the sidewalk and we said hi to them. As if she had heard our earlier discussion little girl #2 said, “She’s got a broken arm. She’s got a broken arm.” Pointing her finger into the stroller, her little brother was racing up for a look. And Cyrus spoke up and said, “It is not a broken arm it’s a special arm.” I sent the kids back to their dad who hadn’t noticed they had run halfway down the block, I kissed Cyrus for his bravery and asked Muriwai if the words the little girl had said bothered her. She didn’t answer and I’m certain I know what the answer was. She looked at me and gripped her left arm in her right hand so hard it turned red and she said, “Will I get a hand for later?” and I explained to her that we could get a pretend hand that she could take on and off if she wanted one. And she pulled angrily at her arm and said, “But I can’t get it to come out, mama. I can’t get it out!” And that about killed me and then she said, “Is it broken?” and I looked into her stunning brown eyes and I said firmly, “No, it’s not broken, it’s beautiful.” And an enormous smile broke over her face and she hugged me hard and I thanked God for this memorable moment outside of the Family Dollar.

the MotherShip...

okay, folks... i bet most of us already know about this excellent website. i consider it the MotherShip of comprehensive limb difference support, discussion, information and links. it has a new look but still provides the connections and help that it's designed to provide.

very early on (before our daughter was born) a friend pointed us toward limbdiffernces.org and the first time i was on it i stayed up til about 2am reading and navigating the threads (which is saying something because at the time our son was getting up at about 5:15, he's still a bit of a farmer). i felt surrounded by parents who were encouraging and helpful. it seemed that people were honest about their struggles and got good tips and ideas.

if you've never checked out limbdifference.org or you haven't visited for a while take a minute and check it out...

limbdifferences.org

the beginning

the Child must know that he or she is a miracle,

that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the
end of the world there will not be, another child like him or her.

-Pablo Casals

welcome to WonderWowee! this blog has been created for parents of children with limb differences. i hope it will be a place of truth and encouragement.

my husband and i have been blessed with two children. our son was born in 2003 and he's our big, creative red-head. our daughter was born in 2005 also big (9lb.2oz.) and beautiful with a partial limb LBE (left below elbow). i want to use this bit of matrix to tell about our discoveries, joys and pains as we navigate life with a limb difference. i'm sure you have similar stories and all of these words can speak to others, especially families who may have just found out their baby has a limb difference. this new information can leave parents disoriented. i specifically hope that this blog and it's stories and links (as we add more and more) will give families joy and insight.