"This?"

A commonly asked question among parents of children with limb differences is, "At what age did your child start to notice their difference and how did you handle it?" It is pretty much inevitable that at some point your child will come to you looking for answers.

I never really pictured it as being one distinct moment, but more of an awareness that develops over time, bit by bit.

There have been a few times when I noticed Gavin sort of inspecting his little arm very intently.

And really, how could he not notice, with all the times it has been pointed out to him by people asking questions and wanting to look at his arm or touch it. He obviously hears our explanations and children understand so much more than we give them credit for most of the time.

Anyways, tonight when we were getting him ready for bed he was looking at his little arm. He touched his little nubbins and then pointed to them and asked me, "This??"

I told him, "Ya. Those are your little fingers."

My mom came into the room and I told her what just happened. She told him, "Yes. Those are Gavin's!" and asked if she could give them a kiss. He held out his arm for a kiss from Gramma and it made me smile :)

I asked him, "Can you kiss it too?" and he gave his little arm a BIG kiss with smacking lips and everything! My mom and I laughed. It was SO cute. Of course, then he thought he was funny so he kissed his arm over and over and laughed with delight.

I know there are bound to be some tough moments as he gets older. I hope he doesn't struggle too much with his self-image. And I hope he will always be able to kiss his arm and laugh.