A Blessing? I'll Take It.

It might be a blessing in disguise, the oral/speech therapist said to me today. Perhaps it can be a good thing that little man is refusing a bottle since his surgery. He had to give it up sometime. Why not now? 

Since the surgery, he has been adamantly, no, vehemently refusing a bottle.  No way! Get that instrument of torture away from me he exclaims! He had a bad experience in the hospital and blames the bottle. Trauma runs deeper then the conscious level. 

Is my baby really done with all this? I remember when I weaned Nika from nursing. (At 2 yrs old!!!) I had to quit her cold turkey because I got sick and my breast-milk was filled with nasty meds. I think it was harder for me then for her. She suddenly seemed so grown up, so independent from me. Although Leo quit nursing from me on his own way back, it never felt like quitting all the way. I still gave him bottles and held him as he gurgled and chugged them in. 

Now after all that....to this? 

Like my orchid, my children grow and bloom how and when they will. For little man, his progress has hinged on physical trauma, and fear. But also it has hinged on taking the chance of hope. And working at it.  

And the results, have been a thousandfold. Yes he bears the scars of a survivor. But, he carries a suitcase filled with medical reports and doubts that have all been proven null. And each trial, each suffering, has also opened a new door. 

And though we might feel a pang for the baby he is growing out of, I wouldn't, even for all the money in the world, keep him from entering a new door. Ok little man, it's your story, and I'm just writing it down. You want to say goodbye to bottles?  Ok. I'm with you. All the way.