What is normal? When you become a new parent, “normal” suddenly becomes an incredibly important concept.
My baby is 7 months old and still not sitting unassisted…is that normal? Better look it up on the “typical development” cheat sheet… hmmm okay, yep it’s normal. Phew.
Normal is so important to parents – everyone wants their kid to be an early walker, have 20 words by 18 months, be able to solve math equations by age 2…
What does normal really matter though? Yes, developmental milestones matter as long as you take them with a grain of salt. If your child is STILL not walking at age 3 and you haven’t seen an Occupational Therapist or a Physical Therapist – you should probably get on that. If your child is falling into the category just below their age group though – it isn’t likely to affect them when they are adults.
Laura was a later walker – and yet she can run circles around some of the kids who started walking at 11 months – it just doesn’t really matter all that much in the end.
Our normal is a little different than other families but in most ways – it is very similar.
We play games, we bake, we do puzzles, we chase Laura around in church when she seems to think the sermon is an invitation to do the 100 yard dash, we give meds, we play with play dough, we draw pictures, we go for bloodwork, we read books, we sing songs, we take her for chest x-rays, we take her to family’s houses, she plays, she laughs, she runs, she makes jokes, she endures biopsy’s and holter monitors and a multitude of other tests.
Some of the things that have become our normal are incredibly abnormal for other families but if you really look at what our lives are like – they are much the same as anyone’s.
For heart month, it is important to educate the world on the affects of CHD, however, we must not lose sight of what’s most important – these kids just want to be kids. They want to run and jump and swim and be considered normal. Let’s not take that away from them.
Our Transplanted Life 