My Moll Doll... part 1

Molly is my 16 year old daughter. I asked her permission if I could use her name and post her picture with her story. I have been wanting to write down her story because she has had her own unique struggles and obstacles to face and she has done so with humor, grace, and diligence. So this is a tribute to my Molly girl.

She was born in the dead of summer, 2 weeks late from her due date and she came out screaming. Our little 8lb 4 oz. towhead baby girl. She had a little smirk on her face almost from day one. A friend who came to meet her in her first few days said she was going to be a card...and they were right. She can get me laughing to the point of embarrassment in a heartbeat... we have many secret stories about that, that she loves to share.

She did grow into quite the funny girl. Compassionate, kind, full of adventure. We had these giant redwood trees in our yard and at 2 years old she would climb up 20-30 feet in the air, using the limbs like a ladder and hang on to the trunk and let the wind blow her back and forth. She felt like she was flying. We cut off the bottom limbs, so she pulled her little toy car over to stand on top of and climb up to her spot. We cut more limbs off.

She was a wanderer and would take her little lifelong buddy from up the hill along with her on her treks through the back field. One time we couldn't find them, our babies...all of a sudden they both came walking back down the hill talking back and forth...he, only in a diaper and barefoot, she in her diaper and ladybug bathing suit with the strap hanging off one arm, barefoot. When we asked them where they went, they explained in their toddler talk, that they went to see the neighbor's gog (dog...for those of you unfamiliar with toddler speak.)

I was constantly feeling guilty because I couldn't keep track of her. If I changed the sheets, I made her come into the room with me. If I got distracted by what I was doing, she was gone, out the door. Usually barefoot and naked. If one of the older kids left the sliding door open she was outside playing in a flash. We built a big fence all around our property to keep her in. Within 20 minutes of the contractor finishing and driving away, she had climbed it. We had to teach her not to go past the boundary of the fence without a grown up.

The funny thing was that all was done with complete innocence. No tantrums, no bratiness...just a look like, "Oh was I not supposed to do that? Well I'm sorry. I will come right back then."

She sat in the back seat eating a doughnut one morning and announced, "These are sure damn good." She breastfed forever...and would ask for "boobymilk" with no shame. Once in the public library she made her very loud request which I shushed her and refused. Another mom ambled up beside me and asked in a hushed voice if I was still nursing her. I didn't know if I should confess or not. Molly was 2, almost 3. I nodded my head and she let out a huge sigh of relief and said, "So am I!" Ahhh! La Leche League mom's unite!

As Molly grew and should have been remembering things like her ABC's or her phone number and address...she couldn't do it. By 5 I was thinking something was up. Anything that needed to be remembered in order was a puzzle to her. When we tried to teach her what to do in an emergency...call 911...she would focus, and say, "Ok its 119?" "991?" My son was was maybe 10 at the time said, "Let's hope someone else is conscious if there is ever an emergency."

I figured all kids are on different timetables and I would leave her be. I wanted to wait and see if it came together eventually for her. I read a lot of Raymond and Dorothy Moore's work on "better late than early" and letting kids learn naturally and play and be kids. I didn't want to begin labeling her at the ripe old age of 5.

So we spent our time gardening, cooking, making letters out of clay, writing them in sand, with her dictating stories to me and I being her scribe. She hated to be read too so I had to get creative and tell her stories as we worked or created together.

Finally at 6, almost 7, we had her tested...she was really behind her age mates, not able to keep the ABC's in order still, which little did I know wouldn't happen until almost 10 years old. She couldn't keep left and right straight, up and down, directions confused her.

We took her to a highly recommended learning center who diagnosed all kinds of "stuff." Severe auditory and visual processing disorders, spatial confusion, short term memory issues...severe dyslexia. She would need intensive therapy to ever to learn to read. Of course we enrolled her immediately.....

Stay tuned for part 2.