Ruby's Smile

The girls are staying with us this weekend. We have a routine we all like. It starts with Saturday morning hoping in the car and heading over to the center where I go to the gym and Joe and the Ruby and Sadie go to the pool. We're there for 2 hours. When we're done we go do something - movies, mall, games. This weekend we headed over to the community center near by us. They were having an after noon of making Valentine's crafts. We thought we'd pop in and see what was going on. We ended up staying right until they were cleaning up!

First up cards were made. I made Joe the first Valentine's card of our 50 years together. It would take too much explaining to go into why we don't celebrate Valentines so let's not go there. But we are firm believers that the girls get to make their own decisions about these things, there has to be room for their opinions and perceptions. Sometimes we just shut up. I admit, however, having fun making the card and watching the girls go at their crafts with abandon.

One of the activities was decorating cookies. The two choices were heart cookies or bear cookies. Ruby worked really hard on her cookies, making a cookie each for Joe and I and then for her mom and then finally for herself. Hers was a bear cookie. When it was done she brought it over to me and showed it to me. It was really well decorated, wearing pink overalls and heart shoes.

The first bite.

She looks at the bear and then me and said, "Ooops, now he'll need crutches."

The second bite.

"Now he's going to need a wheelchair. He can use a manual chair like yours."

The third bite.

"There can be a colostomy bag put in here," she points with a grin.

The fourth and fifth and sixth bite.

"He'll need a wheelchair like in 'the Upside,' that he can drive with his chin or," she thought, "he could have prosthetics."

The sixth bite.

"He's just a head now but he can tell whoever is pushing him where he wants to go."

The last bite.

"Bye bear."

I listened with fascination. She just kept coming up with the adaptations the bear would need after each bite. I was totally impressed with the range of her knowledge of what kinds of things people with disabilities need in order to continue to go about their business. Taken to the ridiculous, of course, she was playing around. But she was playing with knowledge of the subject. She never missed a beat in determining something that could be used or done for bear to slay mobile.

When she was done, I got naughty.

I said to her when she was done, "You know what that bear is going to say in about an hour and a half?"

She looked at me with that pre-teen look that said, go ahead but I know it's gonna be a groaner.

"What a poopy day I've had," I said and laughed. Because I never matured in that area and still find poop and fart humour hilarious.

She won't admit to it I'm sure.

But she did smile.