To Anyone with a visible physical disability my family may have run across in the last six months:

I need to tell you I am sorry. It isn’t that I am attempting to raise a rude child. It is simply that I am attempting to raise a curious and insightful child who just happens to be generally exuberant and very, very loud. We are currently in the narration stage of life. It is hilarious, insightful, and often embarrassing. Like when Juliet started  referring to ample cleavage as “you butt in you chest” or started staking out clear lines between mommys and grandmas and some lovely ladies at the grocery store disagreed about which side of the line they fell on. “No, she a GRANDMA!”

Recently, my lovely three-year-old has been noticing the different ways in which people get around. While she is okay with the walking we do at our house , she is truly fascinated by anyone who uses crutches, a wheelchair, or any other device to get from here to there. You see, Juliet has been watching a lot of Marvel comics with her dad.  She has seen people who don’t just walk. Those are the people who save the world.

So when a lovely women walks into Target and her gait is perfectly timed not just with her feet but also with the crutches attached to her arm, my lovely girl notices. Loudly.

“Mom! look at that lady! She walking with her ARMS! She got more legs! She a SPIDER LADY! Mom! Did you see the SPIDER LADY!”

It doesn’t matter how quickly I start telling her that isn’t it neat that all kinds of people walk in all different ways. Even if I incessantly shush her, she will not be deterred. She saw the coolest thing there is to see all day, and she is darned if I am going to miss it.

And when I take a moment to think about it. Isn’t she right? It is super cool that my friend at work can get anywhere I can with purely the power in her arms. It is amazing that the lady at the Target can manage to co-ordinate her arms and her legs into an intricate dance that gets her across the floor without tripping. I mean, I can’t often manage that with just my feet.

So to the Super-Heroes at the grocery store. We salute you, and we are impressed with you. And I am just sorry she is so incredibly loud about the whole thing. That is surely my fault.

The proud and red-faced mom.