Floyd’s one little guy setting a big example
FLOYD-HENRY Morley has finally asked the question his mother has been waiting to hear almost his entire life.
“On his birthday he went to day care wearing a ‘number four’ badge and all the kids kept saying ‘You’re not four, you’re still little’,” recalls Jade Morley, the Casuarina mum who won hearts around the nation in 2014 when she and husband Ross posted a touching video about their baby’s diagnosis with achondroplasia, a common cause of dwarfism.
“He’s 87cm, the size of a one-year-old, and he came home asking why he’s smaller than his friends. I knew it was coming, you think you’re prepared for what you’ll say, but it still stopped me in my tracks.
“I paused for a moment and then explained that just because someone is taller than you it doesn’t mean they’re older.”
It also doesn’t mean they’re smarter, funnier, livelier or more loving because, at almost four and a half, little Floyd has those attributes in spades.
Better still, he has a pair of twin siblings named Cleo and Harry who adore him.
“They’re his best friends in the world,” Jade says of the two-year-olds who are already taller than their big brother. “They can do everything so much easier than him but he doesn’t get upset. He just coerces them into opening doors for him and getting into cupboards he can’t reach.
“We walk down the street and every third person stares trying to work it out. Are they triplets? Who are the twins? What’s happening here?”
Four years after the diagnosis that rocked his parents’ world, Floyd is a healthy boy who just happens to be small.
“He’s such a little dude,” Jade says. “He’s got a million friends. When he walks into day care, everyone is yelling out his name. I don’t think I’ll ever have to worry about him socially … he’s a really smart kid. He’s just on it.
“He’s had no complications except for having to get grommets (in his ears). He may get a sore back when he’s older but we’ve been very lucky.
“He’s pretty much on par with any other four-year-old. He’s literally just little.”
Floyd and his family will mark another significant milestone next week when they head to the Short Statured People of Australia’s national convention near Newcastle.
With dozens of little people set to attend, it will be a few days where small is the norm and the power of that cannot be underestimated.
“He’s starting to realise something’s different and no matter what we do to guide him, we’ll never walk in his shoes,” Jade says.
“It feels like it’s the right time to do this ... they’re even having a sports day which will be great because Floydy loves to run. He’s a really fast runner – he just needs an even playing field.”