Explaining Daddy's limp

Yesterday morning the house was in a state of well-fed energy and the squalls of childish temperment were blowing in and out, and my intuition said it would be a good time to give my son some explanation of my limp, the one I had told him I was asking the doctors about.

I got a piece of paper and two pens, and asked him if he wanted to hear the doctors' theory. He agreed, and I drew this picture while explaining that the brain sends signals to the muscles by way of the upper motor neurons and the lower motor neurons.



I told him that the doctors aren't sure why I am limping, but they think that the motor neurons are not sending the signals very well to the muscles. During all this, my daughter was standing there saying she wanted a turn to draw. My son seemed to understand the theory, and I left the drawing with him. Then he asked me to draw pictures of insects for him to color. My daughter then got upset that I would not lend her my pens, but wanted her to use the kids' markers instead.

The only thing that bothers me about the episode is that my son did not ask any questions. Usually he is a fountain of questions. So maybe he sensed something fake about what I told him, despite my thinking that I did it quite naturally and well. Or maybe it's an indication of how seriously he takes this issue, despite my apparent nonchalance.

I expect that as the days and weeks go on, he'll come up with questions, and it will become a topic like any other.

For the past three nights or so, he has been waking us up in the middle of the night. Could be related to some anxiety, or the bug he caught that gave him the runs.

Left grip is 36 pounds (28, 33, 36), right grip is 92 pounds (92, 88, 80), left leg balance is 9.6 seconds, and inhale volume is TK mL.