First day

I didn’t cry today. I teared up.

As we were standing outside waiting to go in (the kids go in themselves) I crouched down and told him how much we all loved him, and how proud we are of him, and how much fun he is going to have. He asked me if I was going to cry. No, I said. Then he pushed my sunglasses down my face to check. I held it together and he smiled.

This weekend we were driving somewhere on a boring errand, and he was so helpful and positive and sweet. I looked back at him in the car and this exchange followed.

Me: You really are a good boy, Brody.

Brody: Even though my hands are different?

Me: Especially. I love your hands. And you will realize when you’re older than being different is a good thing. You won’t want to be like everyone else.

Brody: Will my hand be straight when I’m older?

Me: Well, no. I mean, we could make it straight, but it won’t automatically be straight……Do you want to make it straight?

Brody: No. I like it dis way.

His new teacher wanted to know if he was comfortable talking about his hand to the class. He said he was. The idea is that the teacher raises it the first day, then it's not an issue later on.

The school called me around lunchtime saying that he had thrown up. Turns out, he had gotten hamburger stuck in his throat because of his narrow esophagus. I know this because he was hiccupping. Do all TEF kids hiccup when the food gets stuck? It happens periodically. I don’t know if we need another dilation surgery or not. It’s been a couple of years.

I cannot wait to see him tonight. I feel like it’s been a week since this morning.