Wouldn’t you know it? My middle child, my son Sam, is who I write about first. I bet he’d be happy to hear that I’m talking about him first actually. I chose Sam because I just experienced my first night terrors with him tonight. Both his dad and I had had them as kids. I don’t remember my siblings having them so tonight was my first time to see a night terror. What a wild ride! Actually Sam has the flu today and has spiked some high fevers. So, as his body is overheating he is getting these terrors. My husband picked him up and held him tight and took him outside in the cold weather. After several long minutes, Sam recovered. But as soon as he laid back down on the couch, his skin temperature started rising again. He is hot!

Aside from the occasional cold or flu, Sam is a strong and healthy 9-year-old boy. He likes soccer, biking and baseball. He loves anything with a digital screen and he loves playing just about anything if he has someone to play with. He does very well in school and enjoys it.

Before he was in full day school, I used to joke that Sam had gone to more therapy than either of his sisters, who were actually prescribed the therapy. He attended Hannah’s therapies from almost the first day he was born. Then as she went off to school, he was dragged along to countless therapies for his baby sister, Carrie, until he escaped to preschool. The therapists were so great with him, often including him in the therapy sessions. He got to “play” too, with all the cool therapy gadgets and he learned to accept his siblings limitations and he learned how to help them. I’ll see him therapeutically explain to Carrie why he wants her to hold her toy this way and not that way. He is just as excited as I am when Carrie hits a milestone. He asks thoughtful questions about his sisters’ medical conditions and their quality of life.

Someday, Sam’s wife is going to be a very lucky lady because Sam will be the most caring man you’ll ever meet. He is so caring and intuitive with his younger sister and all her needs. And although he won’t admit it, he deeply loves his old sister, too. They pretend to have sibling rivalry. But the next minute they can get into deep play together, forgetting about the rest of the world. Sam is a wonderful brother. He’s also my right-hand man. He helps me with everything and, truly, rarely complains. We’ve worked hard to be sure Sam feels included and just as important as his sisters with their additional needs. He really is an awesome kid!

By the way, you can see by the post time that I am finishing writing this post in the wee hours of the night because Carrie has the flu, too, and can’t stop coughing. It’s one of those nights. Peace and Love, Kristen

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