My little Nemo

Tonight my husband put on Little Nemo for my 2 year old daughter and we sat down and watched it together. I obviously LOVE that movie and there is one line that always reminds me of Caleb's experience with FH. It's the part in the beginning of the movie when one of Nemo's friends inquires, "What's wrong with his fin?" and another friend comments, "He looks funny!". Nemo's dad, Marlin,  replies, "He was born with it, kids. We call it his lucky fin". Marlin and Nemo in that moment of the movie seemed so proud of that little fin, as I have always been so proud of how my little Caleb has always accepted his 'little fin'.  I can remember all those times when someone asked Caleb and I why he walked so funny, or why he was 'limping'. People were never rude or mean, just curious. When Caleb was a baby, his limb length descrepancy was minor and sometimes I even thought it was not really noticeable, but as he has grown we have also seen his descrepancy grow and this last year we knew that we had bought ourselves enough time before the surgery had to be done.

Today, Caleb's fixator is quite the spectacle wherever we go. I think this does take getting used to. Some people are almost rude and stare at Caleb's fixator without making one second of eye contact with him or even just giving him a nice smile. Others come up to us and ask sweetly how he hurt himself over the summer and Caleb always replies, "I was born like this". People never really know how to respond to this answer, but it saves a lot of conversation time with lots of strangers : ) Of course, he wasn't born with a fixator, but because of HOW he came into the world, he has to now wear one. I always appreciate when people come up and talk to us instead of just gawk. His fixator is a curious thing and I would expect people to want to know what happened to him. I just like when people treat him like a normal kid and take the time to actually talk to him.

We made the decision that we wanted Caleb to start school during his lengthening, but he only goes for 2 hours each day. We have been blessed that the school was so willing to work with us and it is so great that he gets to have a little 'normal-ness' throughout the day. Of course, I was a little nervous how kids would respond to him and even more concerned with how he was going to handle the extra attention but I am happy to say that kids are so wonderfully accepting at Caleb's age. The first day of class I walked him in and instantly kids started asking him "Caleb, what happened to your leg"?! I asked the teacher if I could explain to the class what had happened to Caleb over the summer just to help relieve some of the pressure off of him from having to explain to everyone what happened to him. I explained that Caleb was born missing a bone and that over the summer we had a special surgery to help correct  his foot and leg so that he can soon stand up tall and have two legs that are the same length. And that was pretty much it. Once the kids were told about Caleb's surgery, they left it at that. Hardly anyone in his class talks to him about it and honestly I'm not even sure if they even notice his fixator anymore. He has a fixator cover on his leg so they can't see any pins and wires. I feel we made a great choice as far as timing for this surgery since I think kids are pretty tolerant at his age. As kids get older, I would imagine that they tend to get more self-conscious about themselves and might have a harder time being 'different'.  About a week ago I opened up Caleb's backpack and found the most precious thing I have ever seen......a picture that one of Caleb's friends drew for him.

 

 

Notice the GIANT hug and Caleb's fixator.

 

 

This drawing completely made my day and it will probably be framed at some point. It reminds me just how accepting and wonderful little kids are.