A quick recap: when my son broke his elbow about six weeks ago, the end of the broken and dislocated bone was pressing against the nerves and blood vessels in his arm -- one of the reasons they hurried him into surgery. The blood flow returned immediately, but the bruised nerves are slow to heal. "They hold grudges," one of the orthopedists told me. That means that my son still has very little feeling, movement or strength in about half of his left hand -- his thumb, forefinger and middle finger, to be precise.
A friend of mine gave him a Lego set as a "get well" present after the break. We sat down to put it together the other day, constructing an alien-looking creature whose arms and legs fit together with ball-and-socket-type connections.
The nerve damage means that my son has practically no ability to grasp anything, particularly not when any kind of exertion is required. He can barely hold a piece of paper between his thumb and forefinger, much less squeeze a Lego tight enough to press a ball end into a socket.
So he did what kids do so well: Figure something out. He would first try to grasp the piece between his pinkie and ring finger in an awkward way that involved wrapping his pinkie around the piece and pressing it tightly against his ring finger. That worked sometimes, but, let's face it, that's not the strongest grasp on anything (try holding a pen like that and just making a line on a piece of paper or something).
On the times when the piece would slip out of the makeshift grasp, my son, sitting cross-legged on the floor, would put the soles of his feet together and slide the Lego piece between them to hold, while using his "good hand" to connect the other side. It was a little funny to watch but worked like a champ.
The thing is that sitting on the floor and watching him do all this nearly brought me to tears. It was so pitiful seeing him try to find some way just to put two stinking Lego pieces together because his poor little hand just wouldn't do it.
Even though I was itching to reach out and help him, I was determined not to intervene unless he asked for it. There's no telling how long it'll take for the nerve to heal up (the doctor said he's seen it take eight or nine months), and he needs to make his own accommodations until then.
And, truthfully, he was handling it great, much better than many adults would, I'd venture to say. He didn't complain or whine that he couldn't get a good hold. He didn't get frustrated and give up on the project. He asked for help only once or twice and that was after his own repeated efforts couldn't get a couple of particularly stubborn pieces to snap in place. He just sucked it up and figured out how to make it work for himself.
He probably didn't even give it that much thought. He just did it because, well, Legos are fun and he wanted to put it together. Kids are amazing, I tell ya', just amazing.