Walking a Fine Line

Andrew is finally sleeping through the night again. AND he's taking decent naps too. Memo to Me: if your child stops sleeping through the night for more than one consecutive night, go to the doctor!!

I try to do Bekah's hair every day. Mostly because she doesn't have the kind of hair that can get away with every-other-day styles. No curls or thick hair to hide the frizziness of sleep. She hates it when I comb her hair so she trys to tell me that her hair is fine. I've begun telling her that girls just have to do their hair every day. Bummer - but true. Like a few days ago she had a tuft hanging out the side of her head and frizziness on the other. Then her ponytail from the day before was nearly out of it's hairtie in the back with bangs going every which way in the front. She was quite the sight.
I told her that we needed to do her hair and she looks at me in a matter-of-fact way and says, "No, my hair's fine." Laughter found it's way through my facade shortly after that in a spewing kind of loud way and then I took a picture and told her that we needed to do it anyway 'cause girls just have to do their hair every day. She even had the audacity to pose for the camera!


So the reason for this post in the first place. As we all know, Bekah has a heart condition that makes her more fragile than the average kid in public school. Knowing that she's been through so much, I want to protect her from dangers, but I also want her to be able to live her life as normally as possible. That includes being able to have a mother that doesn't hover. I don't want her to have "Nemo syndrome" in which the parent is constantly telling her that she "can't" do things because she's different. I want her to grow up feeling that she's as normal. She'll just have a few more surgeries and cool scars than the other kids in school do.
But today I sent her out the door for the bus stop that's five houses down and my heart jumped when I saw the bus pass our house and then I saw Bekah burst into a run to try to make it in time. That's a good 40-50 yards down the street!! My heart aches when I see her have to run that fast for so long! I know exercise is good, but I don't want her heart to work that hard out of stress! So I called the PCMC cardiology people and asked whether it was better to let her stand in the cold a little longer, or to have her run to the bus like that, or to let me know if I was just being an overprotective parent and to let it go. They told me that I certainly need to bundle her up against the elements and get her a flu shot, but that she generally should be fine. They also confirmed that I should let the bus driver know of her condition so that if he notices anything he can tell her teacher at school or give me a call. But how do I know where the line is between obsessive parent and informing people around her? How do I dress her appropriately for these cold and windy mornings without making her sweat by school's end? I just don't want her to get to 3rd grade and have her rebel because nobody else's mom makes them wear a sweater to school in October. Or nobody else's mom has to talk to the bus driver and make them embarassed. Nobody else has to stay inside at recess time because it's 20 degrees with a wind chill factor of 30. Where's the line??? This will have to be a matter of a lot of prayer for a very long time -- like 10 years.