Embracing moments

Wrapping up summer has been busy! Wait, who am I kidding, it's still in the 90's in Wisconsin... so it's still summer then right?!

We've been lucky to have lots of visitors this summer. It's been jam packed with fun. Our most recent visitors were Tutu, Papa Mark and Halana came for a visit from Missouri. Tutu and Papa Mark are Sarah's mom and stepdad. Halana is our niece, Sarah's brother's daughter. Papa Mark and Tutu think our little babies hung the moon and the stars, well and the whole sky for that matter. We were up early and out late, going non-stop from the minute we woke up until nap and then again from naps until bedtime. It was fabulous and I'm sure the kids would agree! 

 

The last visit we were met with a little challenge during Tutu and Papa's visit. We were at a McDonald's play place after getting ice cream. Bella and one of her brother's were busy playing in the tunnels and climbing around. After a short while, another child noticied Bella's limb difference. I was nursing the baby so I didn't hear what was said between Bella and the other child. Tutu, however, did. Since she's not here all of the time and she hasn't encountered situations like this, I'm not entirely sure she knew how to respond. She was on Bella like white on rice! She kept saying "Bella come out of that thing and get down here by Tutu" over and over again. Bella had other plans. She continued to play while Tutu kept saying "Get down here by Tutu".

Ryan (Bella's daddy) was watching a little closer than I was. He leaned in and said "Sarah you better go over there and take care of that". I handed over the baby and went over to figure out what was going on.

 

I first asked my mom what was going on. She explained that the child had noticied Bella's hand. He was staring, checking it out and calling the other kids over. They are kids. Kids are curious. As long as there's no meanness or Bella's not appearing uncomfortable then we needed to let things be. Bella is strong, she's outspoken. She's pretty good about telling kids she was "born this way" and then going about her business. Bella played, the kids played and within a few short seconds, no one was paying attention to her limb difference. Everyone was having fun. Fun is good!

I had to put my mom in check a little bit. I explained that we have to let them play and "do their thing".  

It was a moment that I had to teach my mom about how we chose to deal with things. She was worried about Bella and I know looking out for her (all of her grandkids) was her first priority at that moment. She wanted to be sure Bella was comfortable. I'm still learning how to deal with things and so is my mom.