Life sucks sometimes, right? Yeah. In the past few weeks, lots of heavy stuff has been going on (in my world and in the world at large). We’re still having testing done on Jack for school. My daughter is hormonal and vacilates from angel to devil in mere moments. I’m struggling to muddle through my…
Learning to say “NO!”
I have a problem. I have chronic I-don’t-want-to-make-waves syndrome. I don’t say no. We live in Orlando. Orlando, the place where 30 bazillion vacationers come each year to pay homage to the Mouse, watch of a giant whale who can do flips, and visit the wizarding world that J.K. Rowling built. So, once a month or so,…
Antibiotics: How Do YOU Roll?
Need a little help here, PLEASE: My Big Little Man (who is smaller by 5 lbs now than My Little Man) got that back-to-school cold going around. For us, that means an imminent sinus infection as his compressed sinus cavities — a trait common to those with Down syndrome — makes him prone to this…
Testing….
Hi there! Remember me? (don’t answer that…I’m beginning to feel a foreigner in my own land!) So, here’s the current score. School District: 5, Jack: 3. It’s looking rough out there. His IEP was completed a few weeks ago. Because he turned 6, he has to be “transitioned” from the developmental delay label to…
Deep Breaths
How are YOU? I hate the beginning of school. Invariably, it brings an onslaught of paperwork, sniffles, and children who are grumpy. It takes a good month for Jack to pull it together. So what do we do? Run away? Hide? I don’t know what the answer is. I know that I am struggling. He…
Being the Parent
I sat in the developmental psychologist’s waiting room just simply observing the behavior of the parents. Some were busy filling out paperwork, one was reading a book, another was totally in to playing Angry Birds. Not a single one was watching their child. I watched these children, who were obviously there for a reason, as…
TRY To Do Some Good Little Thing Just For Yourself
I was saddened to read that Kimberly and her stories about “the child” will be leaving 5MFSN. I totally understand that her To Do list has gotten longer, and more critical, while the time to actually get all those tasks done has gotten shorter. I’ve been there — haven’t we all? Truth is, I’m not…
Hospital Homebound
School. It’s happening around here. Some of the counties near where we live have already returned to recess, brown bag lunch, and smiling teachers. We…start Monday. Well, my daughter starts Monday. My friend’s children start Monday. Jack. Not so much. See, we qualified for Hospital Homebound (HH). Basically, this is a school within a school….
Always Sad to Say Goodbye
The child reminded me of a poignant moment from her babyhood the other day. She was maybe three years old at the time, and still very much a baby with her speech and social delays. I was with her at our church for some reason – going to a meeting or something and she was…
Leaps and Bounds in Baby Steps
The Boys are swimming underwater like frogmen. Doing underwater headstands, flips and dive-toy retrieval as well as sporting an admirable breast stroke… though they clearly prefer being UNDER the water versus on its surface. (They get that from Mom and Dad being SCUBA divers, I guess.) The Boys are competent dead-man floaters (face down in the water, breath-holding). But…