On Thursday November 10th we had our first book reading of "My Belly Has Two Buttons" in Thompson Falls, Montana.
We joined the 1st grade class of Shannon Pavlik to teach them about feeding tubes and introduce them to the inspiration of the book my little Tubie Nico.
The children and teacher had great questions and were so inviting.
I asked them "Have you ever met someone who eats differently than you?"
The answers were all YES!
"people who use chinese stick (chopsticks lol)"
"people use their hands"
"Drink through straws"
"eat weird food"
All these answers were correct and so next I asked, "Have you ever met someone who could eat without using their mouth?"
One child said yes and proceeded to inform me his mom was a nurse, but the rest said NO!
I read them the book and Nico was sitting with the kids and every time I finished a page he would bust out laughing to gain the kids attention which they thought was funny.
when we were done I passed around the Mic-key Button we had just changed so they could understand and feel what he used to keep healthy and they were fascinated by that device with a water balloon.
We passed out feeding tube awareness tattoos, coloring pages and donated the book to the class.
The kids were excited to know the pictures were being sent to our local news station to be added to a feature story airing on the book and our life with a Tubie.
I later received a message from Shannon and the class made us a book and wanted to send it.
It was such a blessing to be there and meet these kids, raise awareness to the next generation so that someday when/if they meet another child like Nico they can remember what they learned and treat them with respect and dignity.
I hope we can do more reading like this locally rather than going 4 hrs from home, but the word needs spread far and wide and God made them our first for a reason.
Thank you Thompson Falls Elementary!
**for book readings contact Meikele Lee @ trendyk1@gmail.com**
