Must Fly!

Yesterday I decided was time to have a date with my little man. So, Anthony and I left the house on a date, but had to take care of one dreaded chore that Anthony hates more then going to the Dr....... a hair cut! It use to take 3 of us, but now he sits in the chair while I hold his hands. He is getting better about sitting through those darn hair cuts, but still a chore. He knew that after his hair cut we would go to McDonald's (hate the place)which I reminded him of all during the cut. It helped and it wasn't long we were out the door headed to the big M.

So, we get to McDonald's and Anthony walks up to the counter looks at the guy and says "burder, ketchup and pickles, PEASE! pobeer (rootbeer)" The guy just stands there, so I say, "he said a burger, ketchup and pickles and rootbeer" the guys responses "Ah.. okay" I'm thinking how much clearer did he have to tell you what he wanted. Anyway, I was very proud of my little man, we took a table we eat and visited. Then when we were done I said "lets go" Anthony says "NO, Mom I pay (as he signs play)" I said "No we need to go" Anthony tells me again "Mom I pay...pease!" I didn't want him to play on the playground and it wasn't because I didn't have the time. I didn't want him to play because he didn't have his sisters with him to take care of him. I wasn't ready to let Anthony explore his world on his own, I didn't want to risk some jerk kid picking on him or Anthony going into the tubes and refusing to come out, I just wanted to protect my little man and letting him go play on his own had too many risks. My son is a determined little boy and he was persistent about playing on the playground, so with knots in my gut I let him go.

Anthony was so excited and ran to the playground as soon as I gave him the go ahead. He climb all over the place while I stood watch like a hawk ready to swoop in, but what I saw put tears in my eyes, touched my heart, made me proud and taught me I could be another hurdle in my son's life.

When Anthony entered that playground he did so with confidence and joy. He approached a little boy about his size who was about 4 years old. The boys exchanged greetings and went on their way together, as a team through the monster size tunnels of the playground. The two of them were having a blast! Then I noticed that more of the children were talking to Anthony, hanging out with him, Anthony had a group of kids that instantly became him friends and he theirs. I was grateful that these children were kind, relieved my son was accepted, but sill guarded that Anthony could do something like tickle a kid that didn't want to be tickled. Well, that didn't happen. What happened was I learned my son is a little boy who needs to spread his wings just like his sisters and I his mom need to let him spread his wings and take test flights just like I had to do with his sisters so that someday just like his sisters, Anthony will fly his flight on his journey. He may not fly as far or as high as his sisters or his peers, but none the less he will fly, he needs to be allowed to fly and his mom should not clip his wings before he can be given a chance to fly.

BTW; the only mishap on the playground was Anthony came down the slid and I noticed he didn't have his socks on. So I told him to go find his socks. He did find his socks, he threw one down to me and the other sock he held in his hand, looked at me laughing and threw it to the center of the playground that took a McDonald's employee unlocking a cage and climbing through a dust pit to retrieve my sons sock. Also, when it was time to leave my son came to me on the first call ( that wouldn't of happened with the girls), he said "Good-bye" to his new friends, put on his glasses, sock and shoes and we left McDonald's with Anthony skipping all the way to the car and his mom a little wiser and prouder.