By Steven Green, Publisher/ Editor
Originally published July 30, 2010

With the baby of the house, no two feedings are the same.

It oftentimes depends on what he’s eating at any given time, but some feedings are more challenging than others and some take much longer than others.

Carson can become quite stingy when it comes to fruits and certain vegetables. He loves them and rarely needs a bib when it comes to the foods he truly likes – apple sauce, pears and peaches seem to top his list these days.

However, it’s a different story altogether when it comes to meat. He’s been slow to welcome the turkey, chicken and beef, and I can’t say I blame him for that.

Back when our firstborn, Beckett, was transitioning to solids, I tried everything he ate out of curiosity. Everything tasted pretty good, save for those disgusting watered-down meats and the terrible peas.

Beckett ate everything and didn’t care what it was at any given time. Carson might be a little wiser, or more sophisticated at his age, than his older brother because he knows the meats are the pits compared to the vegetables and fruits.

Carson will eventually take to the meats, but not without it being combined with a vegetable that he likes. Otherwise, he just makes an ugly face and pushes it out of his mouth and down his chin. He may even spit it out altogether or simply pretend he’s pre-occupied with something else (like the blond-haired blur running around the house that’s otherwise known as his brother).

Feeding a baby requires some concentration, and I think Beckett realizes this and subsequently turns into the Green Monster.

It can be challenging to pull off a Carson feeding when the kids have a parent double-teamed. I prefer feeding them both at the same time than having Beckett roam the house while Carson is being fed. It’s not that he strays too far away. It’s more that he becomes terribly jealous of Carson getting all the attention and will pull and yank on arms to get some recognition.

That can make an already messy endeavor even more of a chaotic scene.

In the words of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jon Andes, the local school system lost an “unsung hero” last weekend when Joan Condyles, a physical therapist with the Worcester County Board of Education, died in a tragic accident on Route 113.

Over the last two years, I have gotten to know Joan on a personal level, as she conducted monthly reviews in our home of Beckett till he was one and now Carson. Atypical circumstances surrounding my sons’ births led them to be placed in a program called Infants and Toddlers, and Joan was the physical therapist for the initiative.

When he turned 1 year old, Beckett was discharged from the program because there were no developmental delays evident. Monthly visits from Joan stopped at that point until our second son was born, and she returned to our life and had been working with Carson since he was 2 weeks old. More than likely, it seemed we were on a parallel course with Carson as we were with Beckett. If all went as we hoped, four months from now, he would be released from the program with all signs looking positive, and Joan would again depart our lives.

Unfortunately, that all changed last weekend when she was killed in a horrendous accident while she and her family were reportedly heading to the beach.

When we got the call Monday morning that Joan had died, it was a stunner, to say the least. Anyone that has a private role with your kids is special. Whether it be the pediatrician overseeing their growth, the nurse who gives them shots or the babysitter who spends time with them, there’s a bond there as far as the parents are concerned. Surely, we felt that with Joan.

People who work with the most vulnerable among us, the children, and particularly those whose goal it is to improve their lives are the treasures among us. They are the best and brightest in my eyes, and Joan surely falls into that category.

In working with our kids to overcome some minor developmental obstacles in their early days and teaching us certain tricks of the trade to further advance their progressions, Joan meant more to us than she would ever know. We always expressed our gratitude to Joan for affecting change amongst our kids, but it wasn’t the words of appreciation that seemed to matter most to her. What she took pride in was observing the improvements our kids made with each visit. She was effusively positive and that’s what we needed. Parents always worry about their kids. She understood that and did a marvelous job of keeping things in perspective for us.

Fortunately, I know we were not the only ones whose lives she touched. She worked routinely with children with extensive disabilities in this county, and I can only imagine how deep her involvement ran with those families. Along with her family, friends and close co-workers, they are perhaps the most to be impacted by this loss because she truly cared.

In our 20 or so meetings with Joan, usually consisting of her, my wife and me lying on the floor with our kids the entire time, she often spoke of her family and church life.

Privately, we embraced the idea of Joan not coming to our house anymore. We knew when her visits stopped that both kids were on track and prospering. It surely was nothing personal. It was just the desire to know my kids were well and hitting those standardized goals. Joan knew this and understood it, but she was not going to go anywhere until she was not needed any longer.

We respected that and will fondly remember her and her caring way.

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