This girl!

This girl!

Saturday, June 6, 2015

I'm still not used to the stares (part 2)

When Sophia was 5 years old, I wrote a post about kids staring at Sophia, you can read it here. Today, I think somewhat differently than I did two years ago. I've learned that when kids stare at Sophia they are mostly curious, but then after the initial surprise of seeing someone different from them, they are interested in interacting with her and playing together. I am better at explaining to them why Sophia makes loud noises or why she uses a walker to stroll around the mall, and so they and I can have a little chat and then they go their way. It's actually nice (most of the time, anyway).
In that post from two years ago, I said I was used to adult stares. At that time Sophia was five and she was still very little and the difference was not too obvious from a typical kid, so most of the people used to stare at her noticing how cute and sweet she was, but now at seven the difference is more noticeable and the use of her walker and her communication book (the PODD) make it obvious that she has special needs. Many people still look at her and even say it out loud: "Oh she is adorable", "she is so sweet", "she is so cute" and I can see they genuinely think that, and it's nice to hear those words. But there's also a bunch of people that look at her using her walker and they look at us and I can see the pity look and the "oh poor you having to deal with a kid with special needs" thought going through their minds. I sometimes choose to ignore the look, but other times all I want is to tell them about us and make them understand that we are ok. I want to tell them that yes, it has been challenging but it's not horrible. Sometimes we wish things were not so difficult for Sophia but she is making progress everyday. We do what most parents do for their children, we make sure she has what she needs, we take care of her when she is sick and rejoice when she gets better without having to go to the hospital.
Yes, we have more doctors than I can count with one hand but they are very good doctors and they help us take care of Sophia.
Yes, Sophia has a lot therapists and teachers and care givers, but we have met amazing people because of it.
Yes, it has been very hard at times and we have cried but we have also laughed. I want to tell them that Sophia is a very happy kid, that her laugh makes everything better, that there's no way that we can think of Sophia and not smile (really! we have tried!).
We also go to the park or the beach and have fun. We take pictures with Santa and watch Elmo and Barney on demand. We also go on trips and we go out to dinner (quite often) and we laugh a lot.
I want them to know that Sophia is sweet and fun and mysterious and amazing and she brings a lot more happiness than sadness to our lives. We are a happy family who has some struggles, maybe a different kind of struggles but just like any other family we try to deal with them the best we can.
I dare you to look at that face and not smile!


4 comments:

  1. Amiga que blog más hermoso, cada una de las palabras escritas allí demuestran tú amor y entrega incondicional, además de mostrar la grande madre que eres para Sofía se evidencia la calidad de ser humano que eres, no solamente tu sino Eric también, como tú dices la vida les puso un angelito en su vida para muchas cosas, lamentablemente los adultos por cuestiones que la misma sociedad nos ha impartido y por falta de conocimiento en muchos de los casos miramos y juzgamos sin darnos cuenta que esto lastima a quienes están siendo juzgados o mirados de manera diferente.
    Sofía es una niña hermosa guerrera y un ejemplo para muchos niños. , no solo la vida de tu familia cambio sino también la de quienes te amamos, porque Sofía nos ha enseñado a ver la vida de diferentes maneras y a buscar dentro de nuestro corazón sentimientos maravillosos que tal vez no hubiéramos conocido sino fuera por ella.
    Gracias a la vida y a tu hermosa familia por darnos la gran oportunidad de compartir una experiencia que aunque a veces es dolorosa como tú dices la gran mayoría de las veces es sencillamente mágica y hermosa.

    Los quiero mucho.

    Un abrazo

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    1. Muchisimas gracias amiguita! Sophia vino a rescatarme y me hizo ver lo importante de la vida.

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