18 months old

It's funny how 'age' takes on an entirely different meaning when you're counting the age of a child with special needs. I remember celebrating and documenting each time Jezelle turned 1 year old, than 18 months, than 2 years, etc. but also feeling a bit sad because she was growing up so fast! With Lincoln I try NOT to think about each month that passes by because that just means another month that he's not crawling, not walking, not talking. It's another month that he falls further and further behind his peers.

And he's at an age now where people see him and ask how old he is, and then act a bit surprised when I tell them he's a year and a half. I then wonder if I'm suppose to explain why he looks or acts the way he does or if I should just let it be. The overly protective mommy bear in me wants to explain so people don't think strange things about him. But the logical side of me says it's no one's beezwax!! There are just so many situations, conversations, issues and struggles that go along with raising a child with special needs that you just never ever think of, until you're the one dealing with them.

So instead of celebrating his age, we celebrate each an every teeny tiny skill and milestone Lincoln meets. In his co-op today he imitated some of the actions to a song and I just about cried right there in preschool. I appreciate every single step he tries so hard to take, and every little thing he successfully picks up with his tiny hands. It's been interesting to watch as he makes adaptations, to achieve success with a body that doesn't quite work right.

And with every age arises new challenges and new discussions of how we want to raise our sweet Lincoln. Since our religion is such an important piece of our lives Shane and I had to really work together to make the first decision when it came to church. In our church the children go to nursery at 18 months. And both Shane and I questioned whether or not we should put him into nursery, where the adults didn't know how to read his noises, his cries, his body language, or what he is truly capable of accomplishing, without being mobile. And while it's only 2 hours of our Sunday, it was a discussion (of many I imagine) that we didn't forsee being an issue that we would ever have to work through. Luckily there are wondeful women that work in the nursery that have welcomed Lincoln with open arms but it's scary to leave a child with special needs with someone you're not sure will accept them and love them for just who they are. But here's our Lincoln, in nursery, at 18 months old. And he's just as happy as can be.