2 Weeks Left

Summer break is approaching fast and to be honest the two weeks leading up to the break are just a blur.  There is all the end of year activities that take place that fill up our schedule and cause me to spin in all directions.  Every night this week my girl has something and two of the events that she is participating in I think are worth mentioning here.  She is involved in Peer Connections at her school.  Peer Connections is a group of students hand picked by their teachers to team up with their peers that have special needs.  They play games and socialize with them, basically they are trying to give the children that have special needs the opportunity to practice on their social skills along with making some new friends.  Tomorrow they are having a day of sharing and are going on a field trip.  I wish I knew more about the event but you see my child is getting to the age of questions asked, little info given.  All I know is that I am extremely proud that she is involved with this group.  The second event is Friday night and she is participating with her fellow National Junior Honor Society peeps in the Relay For Life at the high school.  Her group raised money all year and I can't wait to hear how much they raised.  The event takes place all night long but she has an early soccer game so she will be leaving early.   Each year that passes she gets closer to graduation and honestly I am not ready for that so let's move on.

 My boy's end of year activities do not require any after school time but he did get to go to the high school to see the Toad and the Frog.  Honestly I wasn't sure about him going since we can't get him in any kind of auditorium.  That silly boy followed his peers into the auditorium and watched half of the play.  Now of course he cringed each time the kids laughed and clapped causing the whole event to just take all of his energy from him.  He could only tolerate the first half but he did it and I was so proud.  I took the flyer for the event and wrote on it his accomplishments that day and of course I dated it.  I love what school is providing my kids.  They are introducing them to things that I would not be able to.  My boy would never do some of the things that he does at school for me and on top of that he is interacting with his peers everyday and making friends.  I see this happening when I pick him up.  Kids are saying bye to him.  I like to think that the kids at my boys school are learning something about acceptance.  My boy doesn't talk but he is communicating with these kids and they are understanding him.  So I have to say this year so far has been a success.  I guess the only thing left to do here is get ready for summer!!

Monkey Business

So recently my boy has discovered the cartoon, Curious George. He is funny when it comes to what he watches. He has a few things that he watches over and over and Phineas and Ferb has been his favorite for a while and we were glad when he switched from Dora to Phineas and Ferb. But Curious George is different because my boy imitates George as much as he can. We watch him with pleasure but the other night he included us in his pretend play. George was having x-rays done of his foot and then the doctor put a cast on it and this is where we come in. My boy needed someone to x-ray his foot and then it needed to be wrapped, just like George. My boy is eight and when other kids were pretending to feed their babies or have Godzilla smash an entire town, he was playing with his cause and effect toys. As he got older he mastered the iTouch without being shown and now he uses my iPad with ease.

We have always encouraged pretend play but at some point you just come to realize that maybe just maybe it isn't going to happen. Looking back on the situation where he invited us in to play with him, I realize now that we must have looked confused and uncertain about our role and what was being asked of us. But it didn't take us long, we x-rayed and wrapped his foot so many times and honestly I think we could have done it all night long, but a little pretending boy needs his sleep.  So we had to say goodnight to George and my boy hobbled off to get his teeth brushed with his foot still wrapped.  I am not sure everyone will understand how this moment of monkey business made us all feel.  We even hollered at my girl so she could see what was going on and of course she was just as happy as we were when she saw that little foot wrapped.  Several things were happening here that don't normally happen and for starters he was allowing us to wrap his foot while he sat there.  I can't get him dressed without a wrestling match so this was just unusual.  Second he included us!

I often forget about all that my boy doesn't do until one day he goes and acts like a monkey and realize I have missed that all this time. 

Celebrate

First year in school! 

So the time has come to celebrate the birth of my youngest child.  He will be eight on Friday.  It is very hard to believe that he is eight, because he is my baby and forever will be.  I can still pick him up, ok that time is about to pass, but I can still do it and I will probably break my back continuing to try.  When it comes to celebrating his birthdays we have come a long way.  We weren't always able to have to many people in the same room at one time and we always had to give him his space when he was at the table.   We still have to be careful with all this but we definitely celebrate big and with candles because besides balloons, blowing out candles is one of his favorite things to do at birthday parties.  It truly is a celebration!  It is not just a celebration of his birth but of what he has accomplished in his eight years of life.  He has come a long way baby and he isn't stopping.  Happy Birthday to my boy!!

Remember When...

Grandma and Grandpa

Remember when they used to sell the chocolate round mints by the registers for 5 cents.  I do because that was my favorite part of the meal.  My grandpa always bought me one and I never had to ask.  That is just what you did after you ate, you bought a mint.  I traveled a lot with my grandparents when I was growing up, so we ate at a lot of diners and we visited a lot of family.  I used to sit in the front seat between my grandparents.  That was before they started putting cup holders and all the compartments in the middle.  There was even a time when my grandpa had a CB radio.  I don't know what CB stands for but all the truckers had one, you know what I am talking about.  Me and my cousin used to chit chat in CB talk, you know 10/4 big buddy.   We each had our own handle, handle being like a nickname.  One of us was mash potatoes, I think this was me because I loved mash potatoes, but honestly I can't remember.  I just remember that these days were fun and simple.  I only had to worry about when grandma and grandpa were going to stop and what and where we were going to eat.  I usually got a grilled cheese sandwich.  I loved those diner grilled cheese sandwiches and the pickle that always accompanied my sandwich.  You can't have one without the other.  Our trips were pretty predictable.  Always the same.  We would travel by car always and always we would go see family.  I mean who else would we go see.  Now days it is harder to get the time to do this and my grandparents are older, older but not older.  They still get out and travel but just not the distances they used to and they do their traveling now without me, but they have added my mom.  I am pretty positive that their trips are not as much fun with my mom in tow.  She truly tries to keep those two kids, (grandma and grandpa) in line. 

It is funny how times change and it happens so gradually that you sometimes don't see it until one day you are remembering when.  This happened to me the other day with my girl.  She was just standing there looking at me and suddenly I saw the changes in her.  The taller, older girl making her own dicisions and mistakes.  I am not sure how or when it happened but she has changed.  She requires less from me at bedtime.  You know the rubbing of the arm and maybe a song or two.  Those times are disappearing and how and when did this happen?  What is next?  I don't want to be remembering when just yet with her.  I still need that little girl that is standing at the top of the slide yelling look mom as she jumps the full length of the slide, (our swingset slide) I will always remember that moment but I will be adding new moments with her as she coninues to change and grow. 

Her first airplane flight, when she was nine.

Spring Into Action

Oh how I love the gentle breezes of spring and the sound of birds chirping outside my window.  Spring is here and along with it comes the excitement of getting out of the house and enjoying the warmer weather.  This is one thing that the whole family loves to do.  We enjoy a good bike ride or a walk around the block. Once the warmer temps arrive we all spring into action and can't wait to dust off the bikes and get moving.  One thing that me and my girl are excited about is a run coming up in June.  It is called the Color Run.  Find it here.  I have done several 5ks but never with my girl.  There is something about having a goal and working towards it and doing that with her is something I look forward to doing.  She has invited a friend to join us and honestly I think the more people that join us the funner it will be.  So this is your official invitation to join us in June.  Oh you say you have never ran before.  Perfect this run is more about getting sprayed with color than it is how fast you are.  Start training now with us.  We got out yesterday and ran/walked and my girl rode her bike.  Really it is more about getting out and doing something.  Just move that body!!  So what is your spring challenge?  Ours is the Color Run!!

This is a picture of the Color Run, I don't now these people, they just look great in paint!

World Down Syndrome Day

Today was designated World Down Syndrome Day. 3-21 signifies the fact that the 21st chromosome has three copies instead of two in people with Down syndrome.  This day is a great way for us to raise awareness and spread the word that people with Down syndrome are more alike than different.  I can't tell you how important these days of awareness are to so many of us.  We want our children to be seen and accepted for who they are.  My boy has Down syndrome but that is not who he is.  He is just like any other boy.  He likes to stomp in puddles, play ball with his sister, and wrestle with his friend at school.  He also likes to be included when his sister is playing with her friends.  Included.  We worry about inclusion in so many ways.  We want our boy to be included in school activities and we want other children to come up and say hi to our boy and to be honest I have witnessed all of this happen.  But does that mean our job is done in spreading the word?  No.  Our job will never be done.  We are succeeding with every new person that my boy meets and realizes that he matters and and that he makes a difference to the lives of others.  So today we celebrate and honor the boy that has changed his families life in so many ways.  We understand the true meaning of unconditional love.  He sees perfection when he looks at all of us.  His sister can do no wrong and if he could talk I am sure he would tell everyone he meets that she is awesome.  His sister's name is the only one that he can say.  Not mom or dad.   So we want to share with you the reason we are celebrating everyone with an extra chromosome today...because they matter and they need us to spread the word that they are more alike than different.  Join us in this day of celebration by posting your comments showing that you are helping us celebrate this day. 

Celebrating Dad

 This weekend Denis had a birthday and we wanted the day to be all about him.   His celebration weekend was full of a lot of little things that we scattered throughout the weekend and I had fun celebrating the man that always makes me laugh.   

Saturday we took him to see the USS Batfish in Muskogee.  This is a submarine that was used in WWII if my memory is correct.  He loves history so this isn't the first time he has seen this but it was the first time we took the whole family.  My boy loved pushing everyone through the sub so he could go up and start all over again, which we did three times.  I did this with my boy while Denis took his girl on the tour.  She is always interested in learning new stuff when it comes to history.  She is just like her dad.  I am so glad she has him to expose her to stuff like this.  When pushing through the sub with my boy I can't even imagine living in such tight quarters.  All I kept thinking about was the air that they were breathing and how it was not fresh air.  Oh and then there is the whole water thing.  Yes I decided I would have had a problem. 

The day flew by so fast and it always does when you are having fun.  When we left the house that morning we were hoping for the sun and warmer weather so as you can tell in the pictures we did not plan for the temps that we had.  The kids did not have coats and well they are kids so they were fine. 

We topped the whole day off with a visit of an old friend from college.  We haven't seen him in a long time and I love it when all those college memories come crashing back and the smile you remember on your friend hadn't changed at all and the only thing that was different was the fact that we all had kids and we were all trying to be responsible adults now.  No more flying by the seat of our pants hoping that no one noticed that you really didn't know what you wanted to be when you grew up.  Ok so maybe I am still doing this. 

Basically the day was calm and everything planned went as planned and really that is always nice when it happens because with us you never know what kind of day it is going to be.  Happy Birthday and I have loved celebrating all these birthdays together with you and here is to many more.