Happy Birthday Felix

Today is my son Felix's 8th birthday. Life has been enhanced in so many ways since he was born, although he and I have not had an easy time.

I knew before he was born that he would be a boy, that his name was Felix (nomen est omen, in many ways he's a very happy little soul *smile*) and that he would have certain difficulties today labelled ADHD. I spent about half of my pregnancy in hospital, and in the end an emergency Caesarean had to be performed because it turned out that the umbilical cord was wrapped twice round his neck.

In his early months, he had problems with his digestive system and also needed physiotherapy for a neck condition probably induced by his traumatic birth. Same again a year afterwards because he was late in learning to walk. Later he was labelled verhaltensauffällig, a dreadful word implying behavioural disturbance. I could sidetrack here and rant about the German obsession with normality and conformity, but I had better not go there. His school even put pressure on us to put him on medication - gave us the choice of Ritalin or expulsion - but we refused to bow to pressure. Thankfully we found a therapist who saw his intelligence and originality and who placed him in an after-school day centre with other ADHD kids, and he's now doing very well there. However, it still makes me angry to see how the attitude of certain people has smashed his self-confidence: he is constantly saying how bad and stupid he is, and we are constantly working at rebuilding his self-esteem.

Unfortunately he is now also coping with the breakdown of our marriage, although we are going about it perfectly amicably and cooperating with his therapist to make the transition as smooth for him as possible. I do so wish I could make his road smooth and straight for him, but I guess everyone comes into this life with lessons to learn and challenges to overcome.