6.08.2010

I've Been Replaced



OK, well... not quite.

This week I'm helping out at our church's vacation bible school.  I requested to be placed with any special needs kids that signed up and today they placed me with a little girl that has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.  She's in 2nd grade and doing very well.  I honestly wouldn't have known she was different with the exception of a little speech delay issues, but what kid is perfect? None of them are.  (Sorry if this is the first time you've heard your child is NOT perfect... reality sucks right)

I teared up a bit when they told me I would be her buddy.  First because I just feel sympathy for any child that has special needs, and second because what she has is completely preventable. My heart just aches for her that she has a "label" because of her careless mother.  The child is adopted (thank God, because obviously her birth mother was careless) and her adoptive parents seem to have done a great job.  She was so smart and happy and when snack time came she was quick to tell us she couldn't have cheese, because her doctor said so.  Such a sweet girl.

So since I was volunteering for VBS, Lillian spent the morning in the nursery.  That's right, you heard me.  The NURSERY.  For the first time ever she was left in the care of someone other than a medical professional or a family member.  And she L-O-V-E-D it.  So much that when I came in to make her a bottle she didn't even notice me.  And when I came to pick her up she was all smiles for the nursery volunteers and didn't even look at me or acknowledge the fact that we had been separated for 3 hours.  I was really hoping for a big grin for mama, or maybe a reach, but I got nothing.  Just the left over smiles and cues for the sweet ladies in the nursery that took care of her and the other babies.  ::sigh::  I was replaced in about .2 seconds for new toys and new faces.

Tonight when Phil put Lillian to bed she wouldn't go to sleep and ended up crying.  Now I know this is ridiculous but I was SO relieved because it meant she still needed me.  This child very rarely ever cries when we put her down, so I soaked up every minute of the snuggles and read Fox in Sox while I held her and she helped me with the pages and occasionally reached up to twirl my earrings between her fingers.  She went to sleep after I laid her back down and told her goodnight.  It's like she knew I needed that. 

I'll admit, even though I have a passion for helping kids, the main reason I volunteered for VBS was to give Lillian this opportunity.  For the rest of the week she'll be in the nursery from 9am-noon watching other kids her age do their "thing".  She absolutely loves seeing other babies.  As soon as she sees them she gets the biggest smile on her face and says a quick "AHH" and waits for them to respond.  This girl is a social butterfly.

Day one most certainly paid off.  When we got home tonight she CRAWLED.  It was backwards... but so what?!  Lillan used her arms to push off, put her knees underneath her body, and crawled backwards.  It was like a scoot-crawl, but a very good scoot-crawl.  She made it about 4 feet before backing into the chair in the living room. This is coming from a baby who for the first time sat straight up without using her arms just this past Sunday.  She's making progress my friends.  Big progress.

And just because, here are some fun pictures from the past few days...

Hanging out at the Farmer's Market Fountain








Swinging in the yard











Hanging out at her dad's work place.
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10 comments:

  1. Yay Lillian! It is amazing the progress she is making :)

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  2. It really sounds like she is doing great and those pictures are too sweet :-) I loved VBS and if I were still around I would still do it every year!

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  3. It absolutely killed me when Sutton went through a phase of ignoring me when I got home. She would do it to DH too. Fortunately, it was short lived and now she greats us with grins and full body excited shakes. Lillian will always need you!

    I'm so excited to hear about her crawling. You and your DH are such an inspiration with all of the amazingly hard work you do with her!

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  4. Boo for Lillian wanting to hang out with other kids. :'( our babes should be babes forever :(

    YAY for crawling backwards!!!!

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  5. Yay Lillian!!!

    I'm glad she likes her new friends...even though it can be tough on us mommies.

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  6. Lillian! sitting and crawling?! what a big week! congratulations!

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  7. Don't you love when they just 'know' that you need something! Great job at crawling Lillian!

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  8. I'm still so nervous to let Gianna in the church nursery, but I think I'm going to have to suck it up very soon! I'm glad she liked it!

    And yay for crawling... even though it was backwards haha ;)

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  9. Yay Lillian!! It is so inspiring to hear your story. What a joy to read what a happy place you are at in your journey with Lillian. It makes me happy to see you experiencing all this progress with her. She is sooo beautiful.

    Glad to hear you are enjoying VBS. I know that as a child, I really enjoyed it one summer. I thought it was fantastic. The funny part is that a friend and I attended but we weren't even part of that type of church. It just so happened that our neighbor's housekeeper, who happened to be quite fun, was a part of the church and she told us about the "Bible Camp" as we called it. We loved all the songs we learned. Enjoy!

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  10. Just found your blog and I wanted to say that I am so impressed with Lillian! My "typical" little girl is two months older than her and she still only arm crawls and doesn't tripod sit. Lillian is totally within normal range. Go you and go her!!

    Elizabeth

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