By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

Brett Petersen doesn't get upset too often about things he can't do.

So his mother, Wendy Petersen, was a little concerned recently when her 7-year-old son came home a little anxious about not being able to jump rope at school.

It didn't take long to come up with a solution for Brett, who is rarely slowed by a birth defect that deprived him of a right hand.

The Petersens last Monday took Brett to watch Curtis Dolezal play baseball for Wilson High School.

Dolezal, like young Brett, is left-hand dominant after losing his arm below his elbow in a farm accident when he was 3 years old.

Dolezal started Monday's Class 2-1A regional game at Sylvan Grove in right field, and the Petersens got to see the accomplishments of an older athlete with the use of mostly just one arm.

Dolezal fielded balls smoothly during practice, he batted, and he even pitched part of an inning.

After the game, he visited with Brett and showed him how to swing a bat.

While baseball isn't a sport in which Brett has shown a lot of interest yet -- soccer and swimming are his favorite sports -- his mom thought it still was a good experience for Brett.

"I thought it was neat that (Dolezal) took the time to talk to him, answer questions and even show him how to hold a bat," Wendy Petersen said. "There's no doubt in my mind Brett will be an athlete, so it was good for him to see an older guy with one arm succeed in athletics."

Wendy and her husband, Buddy Petersen, adopted Brett from southern China two years ago.

Buddy Petersen said when they learned about Brett's birth defect, they immediately began searching the Internet for ways to teach their son how to do things one-handed.

"Ultimately, no one can teach something what they do not know," he said.

There are other lessons the Petersens have taught Brett on the fly, much like parents do any child.

Brett's mother talked about a time when the family was in a store and Brett couldn't take his eyes off a man who had "everything in the world on his body pierced."

When they left the store, Brett asked a lot of questions, including "What is all that stuff?"

Wendy Petersen said she took full advantage of the situation to teach a life lesson.

"I asked him if he was trying to be mean by staring at the man, or if he was just curious," she said. "And he said he was just curious what all that stuff was.

"So," she added, "I told him that's why most people look at him and his arm. They're just curious about what happened to your arm."

Wendy Petersen said Brett was anxious entering a new school after the family moved to Hays from Edmond, Okla., in December. She said she was pleased at the response the children had toward Brett.

"Everybody asks once (about the arm), and they get over it," she said.

That's why his mom was concerned about Brett being upset about not being able to jump rope.

"Reagan was always getting first place in jump rope, and he's extremely competitive," Wendy Petersen said of Brett's sister, also a kindergartner at Lincoln and in the same class as Brett.

"His mom just told him we'd get a rope that goes on his foot," said Heidi Wamser, Brett's and Reagan's teacher who said she has been impressed with Brett and his family, which also includes two other siblings, 9-year-old Eric and 5-year-old Jade.

"He amazes me every single day," Wamser said. "He played badminton the other day, and it's interesting to see how he uses a scissors. Everything he does is perfect. If he can't do it perfect, he tries until he finds a way. And it takes him only about one time (of failing) to get it right."

Wamser said it has been a good learning experience for everyone in Brett's classroom.

"I told my students that's what the world is made out of," she said, "people who aren't just like us."

"When he first came, I was wondering what all I might have to teach him differently than other students," Wamser added. "But I didn't have to teach him anything. I've learned more from him than I think he has from me."

The Petersens hope to continue that learning experience this summer.

They are looking forward to a visit from Michael Flax, a former teacher at Wilson Elementary School who lost all his fingers on his right hand when he got it caught in a meat grinder as a teenager.

Flax, now a principal in a kindergarten through eighth-grade attendance center in the Carbondale school district near Topeka, plans to come to Hays to visit with Brett some time in the next couple of months.

And Flax has plenty to say.

"I just had to decide whether I was going to give up the things I loved or if I was going to relearn how to do them," said Flax, an accomplished pianist who started taking piano lessons when he was 5. "I realized there are very few people who can teach me how to do things one-handed, so I was going to have teach myself."

Flax said his daily improvisation tactics are "a non-issue" for him.

"It's never going to stop me from doing what I want to do," he said, adding that he doesn't think of himself as having a disability.

Wendy Petersen agreed.

"We certainly don't look at it that way," she said while talking about Brett. "If you spent 30 minutes with him, you wouldn't either."