Talking to your son about his sister's special needs.

We've been fielding lots of questions from Harding lately about his sister. He is starting to notice how she is different from other kids her age. For example, on Friday morning after we took Shelby to try on glasses (and she screamed the entire time) he said, "If Shelby is 2 and Riley is 1, how come Riley can walk and Shelby can't?" I answered by explaining that Shelby's brain works a little differently from most other people, and that because of this, she has trouble doing certain things like using her left arm and leg. I told him that it will take Shelby longer than other kids to learn to walk. I also told him that he could always ask me or Daddy if he ever had questions about Shelby because we would be honest with him. Harding was quiet for a few minutes and then he said, "I need to be honest with you about Shelby too, mommy.......she really does NOT want glasses!" Harding is always looking out for his sister, he told me he would get glasses instead of Shelby. Trip and I have said from the beginning that we would be open with Harding about Shelby. Here we go....