Prince Charming?

Do Princesses Really Kiss Frogs? that is a title of a children's book by Carmela LaVigna Coyle, those of you with little girls have probably read it or maybe heard about it. When I saw the title I started to think about the idea of Prince Charming. Does he really exist or his he an urban legend?

Growing up I was read Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, & all the other fairy tales and wanted to grow up to find my Prince just like every little girl in the world did. However, I never really stopped to think about what that meant. Did it mean that some horrible spell was going to come over me? Was I going to endure some sort of punishment until my Prince found me and rescued me from this terrible situation? What if the Prince that found me wasn't my Prince, he was just some random Prince trying to be nice by helping a poor girl out? What if he wasn't ready to commit? Then what, because he helped me according to the "rules" we have to live happily ever after?

I have a friend, who is getting married in December, and all she talks about is how her Prince has finally found her and she can finally be happy. Is this what girls believe? That a man is going to make them happy and that their life will be complete once they get married? I love my Prince, however I wish someone would have told me that he was going to leave the toilet seat up, his clothes may not always make it in the hamper, and all the cute funny things he did when we were courting might start to get on my nerves after a few years of matrimony. In reality I don't think I would have listened, but it would have been nice if someone would have at least tried to tell to me.

I know it doesn't come from reading girls fairy tales, but where does it come from? Why do some girls expect someone else to make them happy?

As young girls, we want to believe in Prince Charming. We want to think that there is someone out there that will rescue us in our our time of trouble, sweep us off our feet, make us completely happy, and never do anything to hurt or disappoint us. I am afraid that if we don't start telling the Princesses the truth they are going to be very disappointed in him. I'm not saying to stop reading them fairy tales, I'm just saying maybe we should add a disclaimer that states, "these are not actual events." He doesn't really ride up on a white horse, it may be a 4x4 truck instead.

I don't know. I just know that I'm trying to raise a potential Prince Charming, and teach him to be polite and to have good manners, and proper etiquette, it isn't easy. So far my greatest accomplishment in ten years is that he says "excuse me" after he burps, however that is usually followed with "that was a good one." That doesn't leave me with much hope for his future Princess, maybe she will have brothers and will understand.

Fifth Grade!

Kyler started 5th grade yesterday!
This year when it was time to buy school clothes I asked him what he thought he wanted, I was anticipating his answer, like every other year, "shorts & t-shirts are fine." I almost fell over when he said, "I want some plaid shorts & some golf shirts. I want to start dressing a little nicer." I was shocked, I couldn't believe it, the kid who spent everyday this summer in gym shorts and a baseball tournament shirt wants to "dress nicer" what's up? My immediate thought, there is a girl involved. I didn't really care I was just happy that he was excited about dressing better! The shopping experience itself was like no other. He was a different child; he knew what he was looking for and wasn't going to just grab something just so he could go home, no arguing about trying things on, it was truly a surreal trip.
Last Thursday we were getting ready to go to his school's Open House, he changed his clothes three times before we left. Three times! This is the same child who just two weeks ago would have left the house in a dirty t-shirt! What is going on?
So yesterday, on the first day of school Kyler got dressed, brushed his teeth, washed his face, then he asked me, "would you help me fix my hair"? What? This is not my child. When we went outside to take his picture, it's a tradition we do on the first day of school, he asked, "Do I look okay?" Huh? He never cared before what was different about today?
I drove him to school and as I watched him walk across the street and into school I couldn't believe how grown up he looked. Then, it was like a ton of bricks fell on me I got over the shock of the morning events and became really nervous and I realized that if there is a girl involved I have a new set of issues to worry about. I know I'm not ready for those. Can we go back to the t-shirts and basketball shorts, please?

ACH Visit

August 1st marked the date of Kyler's five year check up with Dr. Aronson at Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH) in Little Rock. Kyler was born with a Right Clubfoot, also known as talipes equinovarus, is a congenital deformity of the foot that occurs in about 1 in 1,000 births in the United States. The affected foot tends to be smaller than normal, with the heel pointing downward and the forefoot turning inward. The Achilles Tendon is tight, causing the heel to be drawn up toward the leg. This position is referred to as "equinus," and it is impossible to place the foot flat on the ground. Since the condition starts in the first trimester of pregnancy, the deformity is often quite rigid at birth. The condition is treated with serial casting and/or surgery.
We started with the casting. Kyler's first cast was put on when he was thirteen days old. We would go to Dr. Rosenzweig's office every 7-10 days for a new cast and stretching exercises, we would have to soak off the cast he had on the night before our visit. We did that same routine until he was five months old. Then in September 1998 we were referred to Dr. Aronson.
The following is what the medical community knows about Dr. Aronson; he is the recognized leading practitioner of the Ilizarov bone-lengthening technique in the United States. He is one of only a half-dozen orthopaedic surgeons in America who are truly accomplished in this procedure. He studied this unique method of lengthening short limbs from the developer of the process, Professor G.A. Ilizarov in Siberia in the 1980s and was the first to bring it to this country. It is a complex procedure involving the severing of bones and attachment of external metal fixators (braces) to stretch them as they heal. He is a professor in the Departments of Orthopaedics surgery and pediatrics at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), he received the international Nicolas Andry Award in 2003 from the Association of Bone & Joint Surgeons. Dr. Aronson earned his M.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1975. He served a one-year residency in general surgery at Maine Medical Center in Portland and a four-year residency in orthopaedics at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, before coming to UAMS in 1984.
This is what we know about him. On our first visit to ACH he came into the room and examined Kyler and talked to us briefly and said, "With a simple procedure I will fix your son's foot." Not "I can", but "I will" and he did. On February 3, 1999 we had the surgery to correct the defect. He came out of surgery with two pins in his foot, one on top and one on bottom, holding it at a ninety degree angle and a cast up to his hip with his knee bent slightly. Four weeks later we headed back to Little Rock for the removal of the pins and the last cast, a smaller, lighter one that stopped right below his knee. At the end of March Kyler was out of his cast and we saw his foot straight and flat on the floor for the first time, he was almost 11 months old.

This visit was the first time Kyler was able to tell him about his love of baseball. As I watched Kyler tell this man about playing in the World Series, pitching a no hitter, playing catcher and making the plays at the plate and throwing guys out at second I noticed how Dr. Aronson looked at him as if everything that Kyler was saying was the most important thing in the world. He was truly interested in what he had to say. He wanted to know is batting average, his ERA, he made notes in his chart about what he was telling him. I watched the two of them connect for the first time. They were looking at each other, Kyler was saying thank you and Dr. Aronson said your welcome.

Then the doctor quizzed Kyler on famous athletes who were born with a clubfoot/feet. Kyler knew a few like figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, soccer star Mia Hamm, football quarterback Troy Aikman and football kicker and announcer Pat Summerall. Dr. Aronson then told him about baseball pitchers Larry Sherry & Jim Mecir, and infielder Freddy Sanchez. Kyler later told me that someday his name will be added to that list.
Dr. Aronson, is an accomplished surgeon, he has won many awards for his research and work in the orthopaedic field, however for us his greatest work was done on February 3, 1999.

B R A C E S!

Since Kyler was about three the dentist told us that he was going to need braces. He had his first orthodontist visit in the Summer of 2004 at age six. Where they immediately put in a pallet expander, that we had to turn every night, to make room in his mouth for the baby teeth he still had and his new adult teeth coming in.
Four years later, he is finally ready for his braces and a new expander! Our lives now consist of the "What Not to Eat List" and Gishy Goo.

Preparing his teeth for the brackets...

Brackets on...

Showing them off...

Kyler & Char, the only reason he doesn't mind the orthodontist!

Time in a Bottle

Recently I was asked a simply question, "How old are you, really?" almost accusing me of lying about my age. Not that I wouldn't lie, but this time I was telling the truth. They said, "I never would have guessed." Whatever that means. I'm taking it in the most positive way a person can possibly take it.
After the conversation ended I began to think about where all those years have gone. When I was little I always heard my parents and all their friends talk about how fast time passes. I didn't understand it. It seemed like it took forever for Christmas to get here, or for school to get out. But even then it always seemed like Spring Break and Summer Vacation flew by, maybe that was a little insight into what they were saying, but I was to young to get it. As I got older and would spend more time with my grandparents, I would hear them say that the days pass so slowly now. Is that what life is, constantly trying to control the speed of the sand in the hourglass? Where's the balance?
As children we are in such a hurry to grow up and move on with our own life. Looking back I wanted to be a grown up so badly and now I would give anything to be able to go back to my childhood. Most of the time being a grown up stinks. There is an unwritten list of rules you can't do without other grown ups looking at you like you lost your mind. For example, hopping a ride on the shopping cart in the parking lot. You know what I'm talking about. You get it going really fast and hop on and coast to your car. Or getting a slushy at the convenience store and adding a little soda for that extra real flavor. Or splashing in the puddles after a rain. One of my favorites, eating a watermelon during the summer and having seed spitting contests. I know it's disgusting now, but that's my point, did we really stop to appreciate the freedom that comes with being a child?
As a grown up you can't do those things without someone saying or at least thinking you are acting like a child. As grown ups we are responsible for everything. It seems that someone is always asking or needing something from us. That is when I think that time starts to speed up. We are so busy with our children and their activities, our careers and trying to move up the ladder, our church and trying to be a what God wants us to be, our friends and being there for them. We get so wrapped up in all of those things and a million more that we sometimes forget what it feels like to be free.
In the song, Beautiful Boy, John Lennon sang, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Is that what my grandparents meant? That now that their children were all gone and married and the grandchildren were all older that their life had passed them by with out realizing it. Now the only thing that was left to do was to reflect back and try to hold on to the time they may have missed.
Some of you know that I have been working on making my life less of a spectator sport. I have tried to learn something new everyday, I try to look for God's handy work throughout my week, I am listening to Kyler and trying to hear what he is really saying to me, and I am trying to say yes more than no. However, by doing this I feel like my life is like trying to walk on a high wire without a net. I don't have any idea how to keep my balance without holding my arms out on each side of me and walking ahead slowly. Maybe that is the key, walking ahead slowly, not running in all directions fast. We only get to be with our families for such a short time and then it is gone. I don't want to have to look back and think about all the things I may have missed. I want to know that even though I may not be able to lay the hourglass on its side and call a time out. I can know that in my heart I touched each grain of sand that went through it.