A Cowboy Needs a Horse Johnny lives in a big city, but has everything a cowboy could want (Everything, everything) He has a place to pan for gold (Panning, panning) And he has time to shoot a buffalo everyday (Shooting, shooting) And every night, he dreams he’s a cowboy riding the rangeFinally found the words…
Category Archives: Laughing Through The Tears
“Use Your Words” , A life lesson to live by
It’s a typical school day morning, and I am in the kitchen double checking Zoe’s lunch bag, snack bag, toiletry bag- loading her backpack . I glance up, over the kitchen counter, just in time to see Zoe, who is hovering nearby in her walker. She is smiling and elaborately shaking her groove thing to…
Waiting. And why it’s not so bad.
Raise your hand if you love to wait! Yeah, me neither. We spend lots of time waiting as parents with special needs kids. Waiting for things like doctor’s visits, referrals, our children’s therapies to take, results of the last lab work-up… For the past week we’ve been waiting with one of our daughters – waiting…
The “Ick”
We have been part of the “Ick” people. We try SO hard not to get anything. To not be exposed to any others that are sick, have been sick recently, or that have been exposed to sick. I know impossible. But we really do try to stay germ free. Then it HIT and it didn’t…
Just Fine
“We’re going to meet teacher Susan*, Sweetie. Mommy needs you to show her what you know. Do your very best okay?” “Okay?” So many people had told me to stop worrying, “She’s fine…Why are you doing this?” that I walked into the assessment feeling a bit paranoid. It didn’t help that we arrived on the…
Little things that make friendships work
My husband jokes that it takes a military-grade logistics team to plan date nights or get together mid-day for lunch with a friend! That’s not far from the truth. One of the hardest parts of raising kids with special needs is the isolation. It’s just really, really hard to maintain close friendships when life is…
Autism: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I’ve never been one to sugar coat it. Autism in our life brings out the good, the bad and the ugly. Sometimes we see good more than bad, sometimes we see ugly more than good. But it’s all there. Sometimes our life is fabulous. And sometimes it’s a real drag. This week has been one…
The Voice that Says, “You’re Doing it Wrong!”
“Those who never make mistakes lose a great many chances to learn something” – Unknown What a great truth for a parent! No matter how many times I make mistakes, however, I still get frustrated with myself or the ensuing circumstance. Raising special needs kids provides lots of opportunities to make mistakes – in therapies,…
Dealing With Stress
How do you deal with stress? It’s obvious that most parents of kids with special needs deal with more stress than the average parent. But how you deal with it can make all the difference in the world. Internalizing it? BAD. Finding a healthy way to release it? GOOD. How do I deal with stress?…
I can’t control it, so why do I even try?
I stood there, my feet covered with soap and spit, thinking, Please, God, let this all be worth it someday. My crying, wounded-puppy-eyes kid spit the frothy contents at me because I washed out her mouth for saying “stupid” and “I hate you” to her sister. I constantly tell my kids they can’t just say…