The scene: McDonald’s. My husband just picked me up from the airport (I went to the Blissdom conference in Nashville), and we’re eager to down lunch. We walk in, and Max makes a beeline for a corner table he likes to sit at. Max has this thing about tables at restaurants: At the handful of…
Category Archives: Conditions and Diseases
And yet more special needs Mommy confessions
• I have moments of absolutely insane worry that include things like, “If terrorists blow up our state, where am I going to get seizure medication?” • I sneak omega-3 oil into Max’s Wheatina and wheat germ into his chocolate pudding and when he looks suspicious I make it like everything is OK. • I cannot…
How do you handle those “when?” moments?
I’m having one of those days when the “whens” are on my mind. By that I mean: When is Max going to regularly use both his hands? When is he going to pick up more words? When is Max going to toilet train? When will he feed himself more regularly? When will he dress himself?…
He’s having a very different childhood than I did (and that’s OK)
When I was a little girl, I used to love making stuff—artwork, paintings, costumes, popsicle-stick birdhouses, pottery, you name it. Now, when I look at Max struggling to grasp a bulb crayon or thick paintbrush, I sometimes flash back to my own childhood and I get bummed that he is missing out. Then I snap…
Please, please, please have a good time. Please?
This weekend, we went to Chuck E. Cheesiest Place Ever. The kids saw a commercial for it and begged to go, and because Max managed to say some semblance of “Chuck E. Cheese” and that was worth celebrating, we went. I so wanted him to have a good time. The thing is, though, it’s pretty…
Those moments when I lose my patience
Yeah, he’s cute. But he sure can try my patience. Before I had Max, I wasn’t known for my patience, let me just say. I am the sort of person who wants things done fast, and wants them done well. Wants that do not exactly go well with having a kid with special needs. I…
Mommy brain
I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten a lot more forgetful since having kids. I assume it has something to do with all the information crammed in there. My brain is jam-packed with medical terms and therapy info and doctors’ names and phone numbers and developmental blah blah and you name it. Not to…
Feeding highs and woes
This is Max feeding himself. It is an awesome sight—for so many years, we had to spoon feed him because he lacked the hand coordination to do it himself. Max still likes it when we do it for him. But he adores sweet potatoes, and he was gung-ho to down a bowlful by himself. Back…
How the kids make me laugh
My four-year-old, Sabrina, is amusing to listen to pretty much at all times. She’s always making observations; having her around is sort of like having running commentary on your life from a sportscaster. “Mommy, why do you drink coffee? Does it taste as good as chocolate milk?” “Mommy, I’m not putting on my socks because…
lists for everything
I am a list maker by nature. Lists of doctors, lists of what I need to make for Thanksgiving dinner, I don’t dare go into the grocery store unarmed or I’ll come home with $200 worth of nothing that makes 2 weeks of meals. Now I have to teach my daughter how to do that…