Somewhere Over the Rainbow

The past couple of weeks have been emotionally tough.  I am part of an online message board with a group of close knit mamas.  The women there are priceless.  And although a lot of us have never met, (I've personally met a few of the girls) their friendship and support is amazing.  This group of women have their share of ups and downs, but the week before last, one of our own lost her 3 month old baby to bacterial meningitis.

As a tribute to Charlie, a lot of us dressed in purple and/or red (what the mom wore to the funeral) or bright colors and posted the pictures online.  The funeral was a celebration of baby Charlie's life.  The song that the family walked out to was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sung by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.  It is a beautiful version of this already great song.



To show our love for Charlie and the family, I had Wade draw a picture of a rainbow using those Bingo daubers.  He did an AMAZING job!  He put so much effort into the picture.  He even held the dauber correctly in his right hand using a fantastic grip.  All I had to do was guide his hand and gently press on his wrist to get him to make the dot.  Then, he held the marker with good positioning to write his and Charlie's name.  I was a little nervous that the recent Botox would prevent such a good grip this early on, but it didn't.

Wade has been making such amazing strides lately.  While I was hesitant at first to send him, I give a lot of credit to his wonderful school and his even more wonderful teachers and therapists.  They are really working with him, and the effort shows!  We are so, so lucky to be surrounded by some amazing professionals.  Between the staff at The Hafley Development Center and the doctors and therapists in the Cook Children's Network.