Nothin’ but NET Baby!!!

It’s so hard when our babies are sick. Mamas, dads, caregivers, you know what I’m saying…

Many 3 year olds have the ability to verbally tell us (or even yell at us!) what’s wrong, even with the smallest details such as “want BLUE cup, not green!!!”. As annoying as that demanding behavior may seem at moments (& yet hilarious at others!), when our angels are sick, it helps so much when they are able to even somewhat articulate to us what they need. Even with a simple “yes” or “no” in response to “does it hurt HERE hunnie?”, or “would it help if mommy got you your sippy?” With Evy not yet being at that point in his development, the last few days have been extra tough, because our darling little man has a brutal cough/cold. (In fact, he coughs so very hard that he tends to throw up, multiple times per day, poor bug 😦 ) He awoke Tuesday morning at his usual time, around 8:00 A.M., but instead of his usual joyous chatter, he coughed his lungs out until he fully awoke.

Since then, his normally sparkling blue eyes have been dull with sickness. His normally energetic little body has been very sedentary. His poor little nose is constantly dripping like a tap, and he cannot yet understand the concept of “blow your nose, baby” as Cody did at this age.  (Thank goodness we happened to have an appointment with his pediatrician to discuss other matters yesterday morning; she checked him out thoroughly and is confident this is simply a nasty virus that must run it’s course. Upsetting, yes, but nothing bacterial that could pose greater harm. Whew!) He has been sleeping more than usual, and has barely had a bite to eat either; if he does dare to eat anything, a coughing fit mercilessly takes over, and he ends up….you guessed it…BARFING his food & milk up everywhere!! Yum….

My poor bug 😦

I think most of us adults can admit that if this were US, we would be a whiny ball of annoyingness on the couch. (Yes, I realize “annoyingness” is not a word), bothering those we live with to help take care of us in our time of need….am I right?

But this is SO not our Evy-Bug. He is, once again, unlike any other person that I know.

Instead, he wakes up all dreary, watery & red-eyed again this morning, and chooses TODAY to be a day of brand new progress on his journey.

As we were snuggled up this morning, while his baby sister napped, we began some practice with his “Speech Blubs” app….and out of the blue, he points to the glowing screen on iPad, appropriately & very clearly identifies the new shape: “rectangle“. He said it not once, not twice, but THREE times!! With stunning clarity. I congratulated him,  reinforcing his new discovery with “yes Evy, RECTANGLE!!”, and applauded him on his effort. He looked up at me, and smiled, eyes all dreary still….but undeniably happy.

(I must also add that for the first time since he was only 22 months old, he actually took medicine TWICE today!! Normally, he gags so badly that he throws ANY kind of medicine immediately up…but today, he took it. He didn’t ‘LOVE’ it, necessarily, but he ingested it with minimal fight and zero gagging. Thank goodness!!)

When he awoke from a sickness-induced afternoon nap, he insisted on going outside. This little angel would LIVE outside if he could, he just adores nature & fresh air!!! I tried to keep him inside, as I wanted him to rest and recooperate….but he was done with that. He got his shoes on….(as best he could, but still, this is HUGE for him that he almost got the job done himself!!)….and took me to the door, insisting “we go!”. Well, as far as I was concerned, a little fresh spring air never hurt anyone…so, out we went.

The sun in the backyard was just beautiful!! Lydia was on me in the baby-wearer, Evy was playing with various toys, and Cody was adorably, clumsily trying to sink some baskets with his new basketball. Cody observed his old mama smoothly sinking a few baskets, and promptly asked for some pointers. So, as I attempted to teach our 6 year old how to line up, shoot a basket & follow-through, with Lydia strapped to the front of me in the Tula, Evy came up to us. (Cody quickly gave up trying to line up a shot anyways and went off to something else…), and yanked on my arm. He grasped for the tiny basketball, and when I handed it over, he promptly took it over to the net and slam dunk’d it!!!!

Nothin’ but NET Baby!!!!!!

He had seen Cody & I attempt to sink MAYBE 3 baskets, and that was all that it took for his smart little brain to comprehend that: Step 1: “you take the basketball”. Step 2: “you put it in the net”. And step 3: “people cheer!” His brain put all of those steps together, with ZERO actual instruction.

For those who may not know, this is absolutely AMAZING for a little man with abnormalities in the white matter of his brain!!!!! (Which is like the information highway between various grey matter areas of the brain) He smiled so wide, and began experimenting with different sizes of balls in the yard to see what all might work. I was absolutely floored. It took him only a couple more minutes to see that only basketballs worked.

YESSS!!!

My heart jumped for joy when I caught that precious moment on camera, I tear up even as I write this!

And all of this while sick? That’s mind-boggling! Not even many adults I know could learn so many new things with even a sniffle attacking their body! (beware the dreaded “man-cold”, right? Ha!!)

Keep it up, my little star. The world is YOURS!!!!!

~Thank you for reading, and for supporting our darling Bug on his journey.  It would mean the world if you would help show support for our darling Evy, and help raise awareness for rare diseases, by following & sharing. If you have a helpful, positive, or supportive comment in mind, please leave one for us! We deeply appreciate you taking the time to be here.

Warmest wishes on your own journey.