This week I got to help with my sons 4th grade field trip, Wagons Ho. This hands on experience shows kids how the pioneers lived and the skills they needed to survive. The kids get to do everything from shake cream into butter, use a saw to cut shingles for a home, start a fire with a stick and bow, rope a steer, wash laundry on a washboard, drill holes into wood with primitive tools and so many other fun things.
It was cold most the day but the kids seemed to enjoy every second of it none the less. As I watched my sweet little Matthew interact with his classmates he made me smile. He was loving every single second of it, he was ready to jump in and try every challenge they gave him. For those of you who do not know my son is special needs, he was born missing half his heart, but complications and seizures have also left him behind kids his own age developmentally.
He is half the size of most the kids in his class, he can’t run as fast as them. He can’t read or write at their level…. But none of that matters to him. They are his friends and he loves every second of being at school. Most the kids adore him as well and enjoys his happy, fun loving attitude. It makes my heart so happy to see him thriving and doing well. That is just it, Matthew never focuses on the things he can’t do instead he just JUMPS RIGHT IN and does the best he can.
The very last event of the day was a tug of war contest. They had all the 4th grade boys on one side of the rope and all the girls plus 5 teachers on the other side of the rope. They counted down ready, set, go…. you have never seem kids more determined as they pulled on that rope. The Mommy in me wanted to go snatch him up, worried he might get hurt with all those big boys tugging on the rope… but there he was grinning EAR TO EAR pulling with all his might.
And then it happened the red flag was pulled to their side and they beat the girls! They clapped they cheered, they where the champions, they WON! And right in the middle of the crowd my was sweet little Matthew giving his friends a high five, feeling 10 feet tall. Moments like this are such a blessing from above and I am so grateful for every day we have healthy with him!
I am also so very grateful for this classmates and the kindness they show him, being “different” in anyway is never easy. But so much easier when you have a group of kids embrace that difference with open arms.
You can read more about Matthew and being Hypoplastic Left heart here under I’m A Heart Mom.
What is a Mommy Moment, click here
Such a touching story!
Glad you got to enjoy that day with your son and seeing him do so well!
(I have a little 2 yr old girl with Down syndrome, so I can sort of imagine how you must have felt…)