Still Rocking...After All These Years

I suppose there are times as adults that we would still like to be held by our parents when we need comfort. We would no more think of crawling up on Mom's lap. Billy Ray doesn't have those concerns at all. Forget that he will be 23 next month and weighs 145 lbs. Mom's lap is still a place of comfort for him. He will say "rock you me".

It is quite a contortion we have figured out to deal with his added weight. I sit in my recliner positioning his legs over the arm of the chair to take some of the weight and he leans on my other arm but somewhat on the chair too.

We sing silly songs and laugh together. Funny how comforting it is to both of us. For that moment blood sugars, IEP's and the like loose their importance.

We often read a little book Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. That little book goes through the stages of a child's life. At the end of each stage the mother goes into the child's room and sings a little song "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." (Sorry I couldn't figure out how to block quote on this blog yet.) She goes to his house at the end to rock him as a grown man.

I was thinking that even when our complex children are grown they remain more our babies than most kids. The documentation system that I share in Parenting Your Complex Child (AMACOM Books Spring 2006) will hopefully mean that our parental care stays with our adult child even when we can no longer take care of him.

Until tomorrow,
Peggy Lou
www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com
www.lighthouseparents.com