I called the Van Buren School District office today to find out what school HaLeigh will go to in the fall. I have obviously known she was almost 5 but after I got off the phone with the secretary reality set in that HaLeigh really isn't 2 years old any more. I admit I know we've been buying larger clothes and kids makeup instead of binkys but what has happened here? Yikes!! HaLeigh Jade Boyd has been one of the brightest lights of my life for a little over three years now. She was 19 months old when I first laid eyes on her. She thinks her life would be incomplete without her brother and truly it would be. HaLeigh is spunky, girlie and incredibly sweet. I remember taking her home for the first time. It was incredibly overwhelming to take a child from someone knowing she didn't know you and that she would not be going back to the place she had called home. I remember squeezing her and asking her if she wanted to go home and be my baby. She took her binky out of her mouth and said 'yes'. I said, ok, I'll be your mama then. We went from there to FireHouse Subs where I first got in trouble with her. I didn't think she'd want her pickle. I started to eat it and she freaked out on me. She kept saying, "NO!". Little did I know that she had an eating disorder because of her neglect at her biological family's home. I had already made my first mistake with her and I'd only had her a few hours. Live and learn, thankfully. I remember the first fit she ever threw. Michael and I stood and watched and smiled because we realized she was no longer afraid of us. She was so good for a few days, never doing anything out of the ordinary, never resisting us. She was scared. That didn't last long. We were glad. I remember the fit she had when she saw her brother with us for the first time. She pointed and screamed and tried to take him away from me. She said nonsense words for thirty minutes but every once in a while she said 'baby' recognizably. It was so beautiful. She recognized her brother. She and Legend had been separated for months until they came to live with us. Now my baby tells me that the author of a book writes the words and that the illustrator draws the pictures. She also heard me teasing AshLeigh about something and then saying j/k j/k. She came to my alphabet rescue and said Mama, the next letter is L,....J, K, L Mama. I think she thought I was stuck on K. She's growing beautifully and we have many more milestones ahead but I'm sure like every other mom I can truly say I wasn't ready to think about her being in Kindergarten.
The first time I heard Legend's name I just knew he was a little black boy. I was so ready to be a mom I couldn't care less what race he was. I also didn't ask because it didn't matter. Much to my surprise when I met him for the first time he was a chubby white fat boy with big brown eyes. My heart flipped. He's still making my heart flip. Legend was born to a teenage prostitute mom and a level 2 sex offender dad. He is the second child born to them. My precious HaLeigh bug being their first. Legend was born 2 1/2 months early because his mom wanted to make him come early. She drank castor oil until she put herself into pre-term labor. He was breech and was brought into this world by emergency caesarean. His heart never stopped beating but he stopped breathing on his own. They intubated him and flew him to Little Rock by helicopter. He stayed at Arkansas Children's Hospital in the NICU for two months. He was released to the care of his biological mom and dad. They failed to care for him. He was losing weight when it was critical that he gain. He also was at a very high risk for blindness. When babies eyes don't get to form in the womb the blood vessels on the backs of the eyes are at high risk for limited circulation. The blood vessels can die and the baby can lose his sight. This is treatable but not correctable once it has happened. Legend was discharged with the instructions that he get regular follow up visits. When the eye doctor at Children's did not see Legend for a follow up appointment he had his office send letters and make phone calls. He received no response. After 20 days he sent the police to retrieve the baby and take our precious man back to Children's to make sure that he was all right. That day was August 11, 2008. Legend and HaLeigh were both taken into custody that day. Legend received the medical care he needed and their journey to our house had began. Yesterday when I picked him up from school his teacher told me that she had asked him his favorite song. He had said Temporary Home. She asked him why it would be Temporary Home. He said, "Well, it's my mama's favorite song. She sings it to me except she says it was NOT a temporary home. It makes her happy." He has no idea what that means to me but someday he will.
