I know my mother always told me if you don't have anything nice to say, DON'T say anything at all.
See, when Little Man was born, he was born with a birthmark...not your normal birthmark...this one takes up the right side of his face. It is known as a port-wine stain.
As he gets older it will likely darken and raise off his skin slightly. We have been through the debate on whether we get it removed or teach him to love and adore it as much as we do.
As of now we have decided we will teach him to love it and love himself as much as we do. Unless it starts to cause medical issues of course. He is a happy, relatively healthy baby boy.
But some things I have heard out of people's mouths have blown my mind! So let me clear some things up...
*No, I did not burn my kid with a flat iron, it is a birthmark.
*No, I am not going to burn my child's face with a cigar to 'see if it clears up' just because you claim it worked for your son.
*No, mommy and daddy did not let him fall down and go boom.
Those are just a few things I have heard. Now, I know a lot of people have no experience with this type of birthmark, but you just don't say those things in front of a child.
What if he was old enough to GET it? Those words hurt.
I thank God every day for Little Miss too because when someone says something about her "Bubbie" she jumps in and says "It is his love mark. My bubbie is perfect, just like me and you."
I am going to work on making a page about port-wine stains simply because there is so much that goes along with it. We have had more MRI's, CT's, Ophthalmology appointments, Dermatology appointments, EEG's.
Little Man's first year was a big question...if he was healthy, if we would spend the next 10 years in and out of surgery's and therapy. But we have a clean bill of health. They have to run a few more tests at age 2 but for now, he is perfect.
I honestly can't believe people would have the nerve to ask you things like that.. or to suggest things like burning your child to remove the birthmark. Honestly, people are just ignorant these days. It looks like a birth mark to me, but then again, I do have some knowledge about port wine birthmarks. I have definitely seen it before. It's sad that people can be so cruel because they are so ignorant.
ReplyDeleteWhat a handsome little fellow you have. :)
Thank you. He really is our miricale baby. And thank you for the encouraging words.
ReplyDeleteHe is beautiful, just the way God made him.
ReplyDeleteI think people will comment just because sometimes they don't know what else to do.
My twins were both born with "strawberry" (or angel kisses)marks on their foreheads, but the marks have since faded. I did get some seriously odd remarks when they were little.
We have a "Bubbie", except he is really a "Bubba", but somehow he has decided we must call him Bubbie. If I use his given name, He says, "No, I not ____, I BUBBIE!". Oh the joys of a 2 year old boy.