A Friend Like Henry by Nuala Gardner

Author:Nuala Gardner [Gardner, Nuala]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2008-09-01T07:00:00+00:00

The wreath of Dale’s favorite toy, Thomas the train, that he brought to Granny Madge’s funeral.

Dale tucked in tight with Henry.

Dale with his pal Henry.

Dale and his sister, Amy, using the Thomas activity center to help them bond.

Dale with a real-life version of Thomas the train.

Henry, painted to look like he has chicken pox, sits with Amy.

Dale with his beloved Mickey at Christmas.

Amy the veterinarian.

10

Independence

Of course what he most intensely dreams of is being taken out for walks, and the more you are able to indulge him, the more he will adore you and the more all the latent beauty of his nature will come out.

—Henry James

Knowing that Dale would need a lot of reassurance about Amy’s arrival, we had a couple of nice surprises in store when he first visited the hospital to see his little sister. A South Park video and new wristwatch were lying in Amy’s crib for him. Lorraine had also had a wonderful idea: she used her computer to make a personal card from Amy to Dale, introducing herself and noting how he owned a dog, which he really liked.

In spite of all this preparation, however, Dale still seemed wary of his little sister, so we made sure we included him as much as possible and showed him that although things had indeed changed, we cared for them both equally. We knew of course that his bonding process with Amy would be different from ours, but hoped that with our help it would progress through time. When Jamie visited me with my dad, they both fussed over Amy, taking turns at holding her, while I spent the entire visit making a huge fuss of Dale. I loved seeing my dad’s pleasure in holding his new granddaughter; after the trauma of losing my mum, he now had a thriving grandson in Dale and was looking forward to watching Amy grow up.

Aware of the impact Amy would have on Dale, his class teacher at Overton, Mrs. Simpson, did something very special to help. She got all the children in the class to hand-make cards for Dale celebrating the arrival of Amy. Even the cards from the boys were lovely, but those from two of the girls stood out. They were so sweet and thoughtful I’ve kept them to this day. One had a drawing of a teddy bear holding balloons and was inscribed, “To Amy, hope you have a great life.” On the other, the young girl had written, “A special baby girl. Welcome to the world to the lovely baby Amy.”

After five days in hospital being spoiled rotten by staff and reminiscing with colleagues I hadn’t seen in years, it was time to go home. Amy was now successfully breastfeeding, although I was very anemic, having lost a lot of blood during the delivery. Life was perfect, and I relished every minute of being a new mum again.

Driving home with Jamie, I couldn’t wait to see everyone, but as he pulled up to our house, I burst into tears at the sight of the welcome awaiting me.

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