Shorry...

Shorry...is how my son says "sorry". He understands when one is supposed to say sorry and is very sweet about saying it. If he is in the play area of a mall and he is running around and some child bangs into him he says "Shorry" casually and walks on but he does say it. But he does not understand that he doesn't have to say sorry if the other person is the one who hurt him or tripped him or whatever.
Last evening I noticed that he had developed a slight diaper rash out of the blue - must be the summer heat...Normally he laughs and plays and asks me to give him some "Kereem" (as in Johnson's baby cream) in his palm - I make a few dots of it and he likes to count the dots randomly saying 2,7 etc. But last eve and night he cried and didn't ask for any cream because of the rash and it was heart breaking for me. What made it even harder was when he cried and kept telling me "Shorry Shorry"....
Just the thing to do to melt a mother's heart. Child in pain saying sorry to the mom for inflicting that pain while cleaning him up. I could not concentrate on anything until he was back to his normal cheerful self. My sister who is a pediatrician happened to call last night to check on my "Labor pains" status and I told her about his diaper rash and how I was feeling so bad about it. We were then talking about other things when she told me about one of her patients, a 12 yr old with cystic fibrosis. This girl is the only child to her parents who dote on her. Her mother has dedicated all her time to taking care of this child. The last time my sister told me about this girl was a couple of months back when she had been admitted to the hospital for breathing difficulties. At that time I believe this girl was very frustrated because she had been studying for some tests to be admitted into some program but could not take the exam since she had to be hospitalized. She apparently said "Whenever I have fun, I end up in the hospital!". Here was a motivated child wanting to learn and live and experience life to the fullest who was being punished with this disease. I put myself in her mother's place and felt such overwhelming sadness. Only child whose condition had worsened so much that she had only a couple of days left. And here I was feeling so bad to even just see my son cry from a diaper rash. Life tests people in different ways at different times - some bearable and some unbearable. Each time my son even experiences a mild cold or when I sulk that he is not a chubby kid like I would have liked him to be I end up hearing about some story like this and it gives me tremendous perspective. It reminds me that part of being a mother is not just basking in the glories of my child but being able to be strong and stand tall when my child is in pain and give him the strength to face the adversities that may come his way in life. I was reminded of my son's pediatrician's comment each time I lament about his weight. Your son, "He is healthy, he is active, why do you worry about his weight. He is the answer to America's obesity problem. You should only worry if he gains weight too easily". I can't deny I still wish for my son to be one stout chubby kid that I can maul and cuddle and pinch but at a serious level I do feel grateful (knock on wood) for big mercies - really, as long as the child is healthy and not in pain - plenty to be grateful for.
On a totally different note Poppins had a very nice post for Father's day in her site. And it again reminds us of the value and importance of maintaining our health at least for the sake of our children.