Homework

Eli brought homework for me today. Actually he REMINDED me of the project that was due a few weeks ago. Wonder why I didn't do well in school......
So since I had to do all this typing, I'm not gonna waste it on one teacher! Well, not WASTE exactly...you know what I mean.

A “Million Words” About Eli Noser
October 15, 2006

First, a little history. Eli was born on January 10, 1995. I don’t remember how cold it was that day, but if I was a betting woman, I know which way I would go. It being January and all.
We went to the Hudson Hospital to have Eli, we called him “Baby E”, because he was going to be Eli or Emma depending on the parts.
Dr. McCann was our delivery assistant. I say assistant, because I did all the work. Twelve hours of it. But enough about me, this is supposed to be about Eli.
Eli wanted to stay where it was warm, and was born with his hands up as if to say, “NO! Let me stay in there!” Another interesting thing was that he had his legs crossed in a peculiar way. We thought it was cute, until we found out the reason. Eli was born with a dislocated hip. Actually, we found out at the Orthopaedic office it was called a Teratologic Hip Dislocation. At one week he was put into a Pavlik harness. This was an apparatus designed to pull the leg so as to pop that errant hip back home. He wore that for two weeks—only coming off for baths—before it was found to be unworthy of its intended function.
That’s a fancy way to say it didn’t work.
So in September of that year, we went into Gillette Children’s hospital for surgery. Eli was in surgery for 4 hours, and came out in a “hip spica” cast. From tummy to toes it was, with an opening for, well, the diapered parts. Eli went from 17 lbs to 25 lbs. in 4 hours. Dr. Sundberg related to us that the surgery was successful and we lived in the hospital for a few days.
Eli was a happy baby, and was really good in the hospital, not that he had any choice or anything…being bound in plaster.
But wait! There’s more! When Eli was three, Dr. Sundberg decided that the hip socket was not deep enough, and Eli’s hip would dislocate too easily. Off we went to the hospital again for another surgery and another spica cast. This surgery was called a Pemberton Osteotomy. A triangular bone graft was taken from his pelvis and set into the hip socket. This cast was so much easier to take, however, as Eli was able to talk and tell us what was going on with him. Made potty training a lot easier too, let me tell you. Eli was the talk of the town at our church. The big boys loved to push him around in the wheelchair. When he got out of that cast, even though he was three years old, he was still in a high chair, because he just did not have the muscles in those spindly little legs. Also, he had to wear another brace that kept his legs spread far apart so the hip would heal correctly. That brace was on for 12 weeks, after the 12 weeks of cast. He did not walk until he was almost four. But when he started, he sure made up for lost time. Boy howdy.
Fast forward now and I will tell you some things I love about Eli.
He is quite mechanical, We never had to teach him how to work a zipper, he just looked at it for a while and figured it out. He never had to be taught “lefty loosey, righty tightie” for taking off bolts and turning screws. He just knew. Just like his daddy that boy.
Eli loves to run and play and be rough just like a boy should. Tractors, skateboards, bikes, fast cars, all hold his interest.
He is also very sensitive, which is why I have tried my best to keep him out of school classrooms where the teacher is a yeller. He just hates loud noise, always has, and when people yell, he takes it to heart. You will never know you have hurt him unless you know him. But it happens, much as he would like to make you think it doesn’t. I remember the first time I witnessed this. Eli was in the young children’s singing group at church. All the children were up on stage singing about Jesus’ birth and were all supposed to be shepherds and say, “Let’s go see the baby.” Eli has always had a very low voice and when his baritone followed all the soprano voices, the people in the congregation laughed. It was really cute, I was chuckling along with the rest—until I saw his face. He was very hurt by this, and never went on the stage or sang in the choir again.
Eli is a snuggler with his mom and dad, and loves to spend time with us watching movies, playing games, and just being. This is getting less and less as he gets older, as It always happens, but we love him up as much as we can.
I believe Eli has leadership qualities. He comes on strong, but people do what he wants them to do. He has also expressed much interest in owning his own business someday. I have no doubt he will.
A little about our family.
Eli’s dad has two children from a previous marriage, so he has a brother and a sister in their 30s. Alex lives in Downingtown, a suburb of Philadelphia, with his wife of one year, Kaui. We went to Hawaii last September for their wedding. His sister Brandy lives in Hudson with her husband Paul. They have been married for 7 years. Hannah is 17 and is a senior at HHS. She and Eli get along well, I don’t have to break up many fights! They like the same kind of music—much to my chagrin (now I know how my parents felt when I played my Van Halen and AC~DC records), and both have the same sense of humor.
Eli’s dad, John works as a mechanic at a printing company in Hopkins, and I work at Faith Community Church as an administrative assistant. We have been married 23 years.
I guess in closing (I’ve topped the 1000 word mark) I will tell you that Eli is a boy who will work tirelessly for someone he believes cares about him. He will bend over backwards for someone who takes the time to listen to him, who doesn’t pass him off as a bother. But he is a toughie for someone who belittles him, yells, or makes fun of him. It is necessary to treat him as if he matters in the classroom.
Thanks for listening,
Kristi Noser