It's hardest when they are very little. You assess their every movement, their every look. Is this normal? Is that? You fear what the future might hold. You wonder why it happened. Why.
As they get bigger, so do their personalities. And boy, can they have big personalities. So much bigger than their disabilities.
Sometimes, they have sisters or brothers to help. Or to fight. It's all good.
Sometimes, they figure stuff out by themselves. If they don't, maybe they will tomorrow, or the month after, or the year after. You learn that they are on their own timeline, and that is OK.
You still have moments when you worry that your child is staring out the window at the world as it passes him by.
But what lies ahead isn't as scary as it once was. You have a new sense of what "normal" means. You've found patience, strength, resilience and determination you never knew you had. And your love for your child? It is so much bigger than his disabilities.
