The day I got stumped!

Mo has stumped me many times and not just while we are playing cricket. The last time I got stumped, it was of a very different nature indeed.

Mo is exactly 5 feet and three quarters of an inch tall, a fact he simply hates. Reality is that Mo reached his adult height at 16 years of age something we confirmed through a bone age x-ray. It basically revealed to us that Mo was not going to grow any taller no matter what.  Some children on the autism spectrum tend to hit puberty early as did Mo and that did not help.

Mo is aware of the situation with his height, yet has petitioned me so many times over the past two years, “oh why couldn’t I be taller?” or “why do I have to be the shortest 18 year old in the world?” and “make me grow Mama, make me grow taller please”.

Alas, I have felt helpless in the face of his pleas and heartbroken for him as any mother would for her child who so desperately yearns for something he cannot have. Until one day not too long ago I had an epiphany! I finally had a solution for Mo. In fact I was amazed why I had not thought of it earlier! Mo was going to grow taller after all. So I went on line and ordered a beautiful pair of elevator shoes for him. Elevator shoes, as the name suggests, have inbuilt heels that lend height to those who choose to wear them. Mo was going to touch 5ft 4 inches in just a few days thanks to his newest pair of shoes.

The shoes arrived and I was over myself with excitement. How would Mo feel? Surely he’d be thrilled. Finally his lamenting over his ‘punyness’  (according to him) would cease. So as soon as I could, I got hold of him and hurried him to my room where a full length mirror awaited to witness the aha moment.

Mo tried on this new pair of shoes and stood infront of the mirror.

“Mamaaaa!!!! You want me to be a fraud!!!” he hollered.

“What what do you mean Mo? Look you are so much taller!” I replied completely puzzled.

“You want people to think I am tall when I wear these shoes and when I take them off I will be the same height. They will think I am a fraud!”

There I was…STUMPED!

Yet another lesson learned from Mo!