It's fun to watch Boy 2 grow and become a contributing member to our family.  Each milestone he crosses is more special than usual because we know what it took for him to get there.  What I consider to be milestones for him are not always what I would have rejoiced in with my other three. 

Boy 2 is developmentally delayed.  He was three months premature, came to live with us when he was three months old and was on oxygen and an apnea monitor.  When he was two they wanted to put him on  a feeding tube.  Dear Man and I conviced them to wait awhile longer and we were finally successful in getting him to eat solid food.  Ice cream!  Does a body good!

Boy 2 learned to walk when he was two years old.  He could say mama, but didn't say his first other word until he was two.  He was crawling down the hall, stopped just under the telephone, looked up and said, "He wo."  (Hello)  It was another two to three months before he said anything else. 

I still remember the first time he said his prayers all on his own, without reciting after me.  He was five then.  I held my hands clasped together and my head was bowed as I listened to him say, "Dear Jesuds,  sank you fo my day."  (Jesus, thank, for) Then I felt his little hands reach up and touch my cheeks as he continued, "And sank you fo my bewdifu mommy."  (thank, for, beautiful)  It was a very humbling moment, and of course I cried and told everyone.  Especially the therapist who felt all he did was say his prayers by rote. 

He didn't learn to ride a tricycle until he was five, was potty trained at 8 and that was the year he told his first fib.  Lies are not usually what a mother looks forward to, and I really wasn't looking for this at all, but the day it came I realized that he had gained a certain amount of cognizance.  I had gone outside onto the deck and looking over the deck I saw several eggs splatted on the ground.  I opened our spare refrigerator door (yes, for Tony, that would make us rednecks!)  and found several of my eggs missing.  I asked Boy 2 why my eggs were on the ground.  he replied, "A big bewd!  A big bewd came and dwopped dem!"  (bird, dropped, them)  Uh huh.

Today we had to make a quick trip into town.  While getting ready to back up I hear, "Put the caw in wevewse, and back out swowy." (car, reverse, slowly)  This done, I then hear, "Now accewerate to 900!"  (accelerate)  Then a gleeful laughter as I punched the gas to give him a thrill.   Girl 1 said, "Talk about a back seat driver!" 

All mothers take joy in their childrens jokes and funny miswording, but being a mother of a special needs child, you realize all that it took to reach that one moment.  It doesn't diminish the way I feel about my other children and what they accomplish, because that is miraculous as well.  Still, when I look at Boy 2, I remember the person who said he should be left to die, and all those that say he should never have been born to begin with. 

I don't know what my life would have been like if Boy 2 was not in it because these people had their way, but I do know that I don't regret a single moment of the life I have had because he was in it.  I have learned a great deal of patience, quite a bit about priorities, and the most important of all has been getting to know Jesus through a little guy I call Boy 2.