Happy Birthday Matthew

Wow, 7 years! I'm still not believing it that my little boy is that old. I still picture him as a chubby toddler with a pacifier in his mouth running half-naked through the house smacking his baby sister every chance he'd get. Well, Ok, except for the pacifier and the half-naked part he does still run through the house smacking his sister every chance he gets. I'm amazed at his happy positive attitude (except when he's not getting his way) and how much fun he is to be around. He is well liked by his teachers and therapists at school. He is liked by his classmates...he still struggles to have close friendships with them but he is social and interacts with everyone, and those that know him comment on how much they like seeing him. He just makes people smile.

Seven years ago when he was born I had no idea how much he would have to overcome to get to this point. Every day I am amazed at how much he tries to do and how much he has learned in such a short amount of time. There are some things he probably will never be very good at like sports or singing ( sorry kiddo) but he is amazingly smart in other areas like reading and has a fantastic memory so at least he's got something to fall back on.

Three years ago when I was struggling with his diagnosis and all the difficulties associated with it I blamed myself and my poor parenting skills, I wondered what I did wrong, and what could I have done differently to prevent this. The truth is there is nothing I could have done to prevent his disability but there was a lot that I did to prevent it from getting worse.

I've learned a lot about myself in the past seven years and I have Matthew to thank for it. I have much more understanding and compassion for others than I ever did. I appreciate the little things in life a lot more and take time to celebrate them. I look for the humor in things, even if it is a little on the dark side. Most of all, I don't take things for granted. I know how incredibly lucky I am to have such a wonderful son. God did not give me the child I wanted, but He did give me the child He wanted me to have.

Happy Birthday Matthew.