She looked up at me, wrapped tight in the blanket that was holding her together. Thirty minutes she’d been yelling at math problems on crumpled paper in front of her. Pencils strewn around, nerves frazzled. Now she sat quiet. Smiling with those big brown tear-soaked eyes. Oh, she was so proud of her work! She…
Category Archives: Conditions and Diseases
The Little Things
(The moving truck arrived so there are currently giant men and 497 boxes all over my house. Jack is in a corner screaming, and the dog peed on the floor. Such is life, eh? Needless to say, I’m reposting again. I PROMISE to write new stuff next week–you know, when I can feel my legs…
Special Exposure Wednesday – Out Of Order
The holidays and school’s winter break has put us out of whack. Hopefully, we’re back to regular programming next week. Share what you managed to capture this week. Please spread the comment love around. Thank you. *photo credit
The (Not So) Fine Art of Negotiating With My Tween’s Bipolar
We’re getting ready to go to the beach. It’s New Year’s Day. (Yes, I know I’m lucky. Truly grateful!) While I’m packing, my daughter with anxiety disorder and Bipolar is escalating. She follows me around the house as I collect towels, bathing suits, beach shoes. “You threw out my old swim suit?!” She accuses, screaming…
Christmas Chaos and Peer Advocacy
I had my first guest post over at my personal blog last week. It is the story of a good friend who did some peer-advocacy for her son who is in first grade and has autism.
Holiday Carols Were Not Written for Us
I have to tell you, I am a huge sucker for holiday music. I love hearing it while I shop in the grocery and when I’m in the car. I dream of falling snow flakes and cozy fires. I actually know all the verses of many traditional hymns and get mad when artists don’t sing…
Don’t Over-Think! Just Do It!
With J’s ‘improvements’ rapidly sliding down hill with the more time that passes between his last IVIG treatment and the present, we’re headed back down the road of massive meltdowns. Some of these are from our own doing. Case in point: We headed to a local large store for FREE Santa photos. We left early…
Santa Visit
Usually some friend invites us to a Santa event sponsored by their employer or business and we go to that. We didn’t get any invitations this year, so I figured we could just not mention it and move along. Not so fast there. The child insisted that we needed to go – all of us – to see Santa and make sure he knew which presents to bring.
Giving and Receiving
I know I will love it no matter what it is, because it will be from the child, her way of telling me, “I love you, Mama.”
The Hardest Word I’ve Ever Said
Seven years. Over a thousand hours at hospitals and specialist appointments. Countless interventions at home. And it turns out the most important word to help my daughter’s treatment is this: NO. No… we’re not doing a nineteenth round of medication adjustments. It’s time for hospitalization. No… I won’t take her home from the hospital and…