Today I’m driving to my mom’s for a week of swimming, museums, movies and play time. This time will be different, though. This time I left “special needs” off my packing list. After laboring over the decision for weeks, my husband gently urged me to choose rest on this vacation. Which means that yesterday, I…
Category Archives: Stress Relief
Not Much to Say
There’s a lot going on over here, but nothing momentous, which is in and of itself kind of momentous. We’re sort of getting used to drama, sadly, so when a significant number of days goes by without any it can almost be unsettling. Enjoy it while it lasts, except you’re dreading when it might end;…
New year to begin…
I know what your thinking…NEW SCHOOL YEAR? How many days till school starts??? I have a friend that started counting the minute summer started. I enjoy our homeschooling time together. I love the beginning of a new year…the goals for the year, the dreams of what you want to work on, the reality of what…
My buddy and me~~
Ok, maybe it dates me that I can remember that tune that played out on television…”My buddy, my BUDdy, My buddy and me can climb up a tree, my buddy and me are the best friends we can be~~ My buddy and me” I wish I could turn the picture for you…but editing isn’t letting me. Anyway,…
Your stress is killing you. Here’s how to fight back.
We’re a stressed-out group of parents. I sat with jaw dropped and tears flowing down cheeks as I watched the documentary. A UCSF expert in cellular aging was explaining that special needs moms were one of the best groups to study the negative effects of chronic stress on the human body. Her colleague, a Stanford…
Time to Reboot!
I’ve been MIA due to a viral infection. Thankfully, not my kids or me. This time, it was Dell, my darling laptop! Timing is NEVER good for this sort of thing. I was in the process of redesigning The Boys’ discreet trial curriculum, writing out my blue-sky-scenario for our encore performance of kindergarten and investigating the pros…
Managing My Girl’s Tough Bipolar Weeks
Tough week here. My 9 year old forgot to take her meds once last weekend, and she spun into a pit of moody darkness for the rest of the week. It’s just part of the job with a neuro-atypical child, these zero-to-sixty meltdowns. It’s the crappy part of the job. Here’s how I handled it…
Coming Back to the Craziness: Dealing With Subtle Grief
This weekend I left my life of raising special needs kids for 3 days of complete relaxation. I visited my mom in Arizona and enjoyed meals out, sleeping in, and lots of shopping (sans racing from the premises with tantruming 8-year old). It was a delight. But of course all things must end. Including the…
Staying Sane While Raising a Bipolar Child
She stomps out of the room, each firmly-planted step shaking the floor. Tear-stained, she plunges her face into the pillows on her bed, where she screams and cries. As she starts to calm down, I feel the adrenaline retreating into the places from which it flooded my body. Breathing, relaxing myself, I tend to her…
How to Relax and Get Off Life’s Raging Rapids
You know when a speaker is sharing a great story with an audience, and they reveal a lesson learned…. and you’re sitting there thinking What?? I got something completely different out of that! That’s me too. Maybe it’s just because we live life from a different angle as special needs parents. Whatever the reason, while…