Rob and I entered the delivery room with mixed feelings. We could hardly wait to meet our third boy…but we were anxious. Getting pregnant was never an issue for us. Having full-term, text book pregnancies? No problem. Having children with life-long issues? That’s us! So, in those final moments before I welcomed my third son, I took a deep breath and gave him to God, right then and there.
Within minutes of Gregory's birth he was given the "all clear" from Down syndrome. He was little - only 6lbs. 12.oz. - but a picture of perfect health. We weren't quite sure how to respond. He didn't have to go to the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit. No specialists were being summoned. No equipment was rolling through the delivery room to check on this or that . It was weird - it appeared we had a "healthy" kid.
It's been three years since that day and Gregory is still a peanut. I'm constantly trying to fatten him up in the healthiest way possible - but I try to remind myself that's just the way he is. Rob and I were ready to tackle whatever God gave us in Gregory, but God is good and hears our every word. Every now and then He answers our prayers the way we desire Him too.
Don't get me wrong. I know the Lord answers prayer in the way that He best sees fit, but there is no question that it is often very different than the way we imagine and can take time for us to understand why. Gregory is still a picture of health. He's incredibly clever and learns new things so quickly - which I know is bound to happen with two older brothers to sit back and watch! He's happy and lovable and a picture of peace.
A few weeks back, I heard noise in one of our bathrooms. I keep the doors to the bathrooms shut because our infant daughter is fascinated with toilet bowl water. I went in too see what was going on and all I could do was stare in disbelief. Gregory had placed the toddler Spiderman potty seat on the toilet and undressed himself. He saw me and said "I go pee-pee". I had picked up the small potty attachment not long before that, knowing I was going to start plugging away at the whole potty bit with him. He beat me to it. He was taking himself potty!
As the weeks have passed, he has continued his habit. He's still wearing pull-ups, but he's taking himself - even going poop with no issue! He's not a 100% there, but he's making progress and he's done it completely on his own!
I've pondered over this whole event a great deal. Dylan is well over nine and while he's making great progress with his relationship with the toilet, it's going to be a bit before he's totally in love. Jeremy was well over four before he found his way to the toilet. And it was a long, rough road. He's the boy who shouldn't be bothered with anything if something important is going on, including potty breaks.
Why Greg? Why was this so natural for him? Is it because he has older brothers to watch? Is it because we've REALLY been plugging away with Dylan's training and making progress? I'm still in amazement of Greg and through it all, God is telling me to sit back and enjoy. God is allowing me to focus on Dylan's training and know that Greg's nearly there, so I don't need to fret about BOTH of them. God listens. God hears. God answers. He knew our load needed to be lightened a bit.
We started the whole kid potty-training thing when Dylan was three. We’re not done yet. We still have one more after Greg. That's six years and counting! That's a lot of diapers, pull-ups, sticker charts, and prizes - not to mention accidents! The Lord knew needed we needed a bit of peace in our crazy, chaotic home and He gave that to us through Gregory.
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