Special Needs

A little while back I posted about a great life lesson that I witness while watching Barney with Landon. He is still a big Barney fan, by the way.. Well today, Jimmy asked me if I saw the episode of Barney with the little girl who is shy. I told him that I saw it for only a moment but asked what it's about. He was watching it with Landon and said that there is a little girl who is very shy. Baby Bop (one of the characters for those who don't watch the show) continues to try to get this little girl to play with her. The little girl clings to her mom and the mom continues to comfort her. The girl begins to warm up to Baby Bop after some time and the mom confides in Barney that her daughter has some special needs and that it's hard for her at times. I told Jimmy that I had seen that conversation but did not know what the special needs were. They didn't say, he told me.. Then it clicked for me (it took longer than it should have, but I will blame that on morning sickness and being fatique!)... The message was that disabilities and special needs are not always visible and that it is important to be understanding. Obviously I thought of our sweet boy. He can be very shy and as I have mentioned, extremely cautious and anxious in certain situations. Do I blame Cystinosis? Not necessarily, but Landon has been through lots of things that most kids his eyes have not experienced and certainly not on a regular basis (countless blood draws for example)... So, some of his uncertainty and anxiety could be that it is merely his temperament, but in some ways, I imagine that he is affected by the pain and discomfort that he has experienced. Today we took him to a local spray park. It was a great place and we look forward to going again, but our little guy clung to us with every ounce of strength he has... We encourage him and we push a bit for him to try things, but we respect his wishes for the most part. So, we did carry him around that spray park. You may be thinking that plenty of children who do not have an illness respond the same way to new situations, and I know that. I do not blame Cystinosis for everything. But there will be times when Landon's life experiences and this disease will serve as a barrier for him. My hope is that the world will treat him as Baby Bop treated the little girl- with empathy and kindness.