Carter Luke Vermilyea - Part 17

It is so interesting to hear things Caroline, and other children, say about Carter’s arm and lack of a hand. I thought I would share a few of them.

Caroline was sitting beside me holding Carter not long after he was born. She was looking at a little book which he happened to touch with his arm. She said, “Carter, you can’t have a book! You don’t have a hand!” It was the first and only negative-type comment she has said. It took me by surprise, and almost made me cry, but then I realized that she was only saying what she knew. In her eyes, she thought, “He can’t hold this book without a hand.” So, I talked to her about how he will be able to do just about anything he wants to with his arm. That God will help his brain to know how to learn to do things without his hand. And that was that.

One of Caroline’s little friends, Nathan, looked at Carter one day and pointed to his arm and said, “Hand? Where hand?” This was after having been around Carter for quite some time. It took awhile for him to even notice.

Caroline was in the nursery one Sunday with Carter (only 6 weeks old) and a little girl, Madison, just a few months older than Carter. The teachers kept referring to Madison as a baby. Caroline corrected them several times by telling them she wasn’t a baby. When they finally asked her why she thought Madison wasn’t a baby, she said, “Because she has two hands.” So, obviously Caroline thought (or thinks maybe still) that all babies start out with just one hand, and eventually you get the other. On the way home from church we talked to her about how Carter will not grow his other hand. We reminded her that God made her with two hands, and Carter with one.

Another friend’s little girl, Carly (4 years old) was talking to her mom one day about something she did when she was a baby. She said, “Hey mom, when I was a baby, you know, when I only had one hand, did I…..?” She said this several times to her mom in those months after Carter was born.

My nephew Connor (2 years old) was at our house (along with his siblings and my sister-in-law) for a week helping me out around the house and with the kids. One day I was holding Carter, and Connor pointed to him and said, “Hand?” It took me a second to realize what he was referring to, then he said it again, “Hand? Broke?” He knew it wasn’t there, but didn’t really know why. So, I told him the same thing we tell everyone who asks about it – God made him with only one hand.

These are the ones that stand out in my memory right now. I’m sure there are more, and I am sure there will be many others!