My wife and I had our first child, Henry, on St. Patrick’s day in 2014. Little H was beautiful. This was OUR boy, made of the same flesh and blood as you and me, yet the world tells me he is going to be “different”. Confusion, anger, two emotions that flooded the mind when hearing the diagnosis. We had no pre-screening and no ultrasound that gave any indication of anything “different”, so naturally my wife and I were taken a back by the diagnosis. .
Regardless of the challenges we were told Henry will face throughout his life we still knew he was a gift delivered straight to us from the Lords own two hands. So, we took Henry home, loving him up every second we had. The days turned into weeks and our boy started to smile. He smiles with every inch of his face. The type of smile that feels like you are looking God right in the eyes and he is telling you not to be afraid anymore. Weeks turned into months and our prince grew and grew. Each passing day he became more and more curious of his surrounding world.
As months turned into a year we watched our boy learn to talk, walk, run, play catch, do sign language, do puzzels and of course use an iphone.
Now, 3 years have passed and now we watch Henry teach his little brother how to learn about his surroundings. Henry has brought joy to more people than I can count with his infectious laughter and hugs that make you feel like you’re being wrapped in sunshine and happiness. Turns out Henry was never “developmentally different” he is “developmentally DISTINCT”, and I wouldn’t change him for the world, I would like to change the world for him.