I knew that my body was giving everything to this little person growing inside me. I knew my life would never be the same; that our lives would never be the same. There were no words to express the happiness I knew my belly contained. I knew that this little being was my angel; my…
Tag Archive: special needs
When she won’t hug Grandma
We flew 8 hours with 4 kids and umpteen bags across the country to visit Grandma. Within 2 minutes they’d already hurt her feelings. It’s always been stressful to balance the expectations of extended family and the needs of my two older girls, adopted as toddlers from foster care. Both their difficult history and their…
It’s Official
After 5 years, innumberable doctor’s, therapist’s and specialist’s appointments, blood tests, x-rays, MRIs and on and on, Precious is no longer “developmentally delayed with a suspected developmental disability” but is officially developmentally disabled (aka ‘MR’) and we have the psychologist’s report to prove it. I wasn’t surprised when I heard the results, but I cried…
Reports from Inside the Sandwich
It’s hard to say when, exactly, we became members of the “sandwich generation.” If I had to guess I would say it started around the time that my husband flew to his mother’s home in order to drive her back to our home so that she could meet our twins. This was about six months…
He Can’t Include Me In His School Day
Our school is inclusive. Every child has a place in a mainstream classroom, with assistance if needed. J is one of those kiddos. He has an assigned a teacher, participates in nonacademic activities and projects, and has ‘specials’ like art, music and PE with his typical peers, all with the help of a one-on-one para….
Adults with Special Needs
We went to the maple sugar bush this week as it was March Break for the kids. Part of the attraction of this particular sugar bush is the all-you-can-eat breakfast and the small farm they have with a pig, some sheep, a goat, a cow and some chickens. We headed out early on Thursday morning…
Three Little Words
I know it’s not perfect, the medication J is on. But it’s doing something. It’s helping to quiet the activity in his brain…sometimes. It’s helping him to find more words, helping the words to find their place within a sentence, to communicate. I talk about watching our children’s achievements, however small, but sometimes these achievements…
Sleep Perchance to Dream
Last night was one of those nights. Daddy had a meeting so I put all the kids to bed, then laid on the floor doing Facebook until the twins dropped off to sleep, except I dropped off to sleep, too. I know I’m really wiped out when I wake up on the cold floor at…
Reflections In Spring…We’ve Come A Long Way
How are we doing? It’s on my mind. Not for any particular reason except that spring is around the corner, and this is the kind of thought process I go through each spring. You see, spring is a time of renewal and while others clean, which I might find a way to get my hands…
Learning her ABC’s
This winter, Precious was seen by a new occupational therapist (OT) after going almost 18 months without seeing one. She had four different OT’s during the first four years of life and they focused on self-care skills like teaching her to put on her shoes, do up her zippers, feed herself and use the toilet….