special needs Archives - Page 12 of 16

Good-Bye Six, Hello Seven

Aug 03 2013

Today, as though in a blink of an eye, our daughter is seven years old. Taller, hair longer, jumping higher, running faster. She has more words, more questions, more understanding. And of course, we love her even more than we did yesterday. We celebrated her birthday in June — so her visiting cousins could spend the day with her and so she could have her Popcorn Party while her favourite movie was still playing in theatres. Avery has achieved so many milestones this year. Some expected, some a complete surprise and indescribable thrill. She graduated up to full-time grade one, learned to swim without floaties, mastered printing her name and adding numbers and many other amazing big girl things. You’re seven today. You’re growing up so quickly; so fast in fact that it’s only a matter of time before THIS happens….

Jul 03 2013

Like a blonde, curly haired broken record, my daughter gets stuck on repeat. Actually, she must repeat in order to learn. Genetic testing has revealed that our child is missing specific genes linked as the cause of mental delays specifically related to memory. Children learn by mimicking and remembering. It takes Avery much longer to commit a concept to memory, so she must repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. She’ll watch the same television show over and over. This includes Max and Ruby. *stabs parental eardrums with pointy stick* She also repeats phrases and songs, the ABCs, names of the people she knows and places she’s been and many, many other things. We understand the importance of her rehearsing these concepts. Strangers do not. It’s somewhat amusing to watch the reactions Avery gets when she says, “Bye man!” a dozen or so times to the same guy at the grocery store. Most people will actually return or at least acknowledge each one. Bless their patient hearts. I try to redirect her though, to spare these busy people the last six or seven farewells. Most of the time these repetitions are necessary. Though sometimes she repeats herself out of habit or because[…]

May 02 2013

My husband and I are partners in every way. Well, except for banking—I “chequed” out of all the financial stuff years ago. Though I feign interest, he and I both know I’m thinking about Mad Men or what might be happening on Facebook while he’s explaining our bank statements. But that’s okay because I am in charge of other important things—like groceries. Somebody has to menu plan and use coupons. It bores him to tears, so I do it. Like I said, partners — each with specific roles and duties, like a well-oiled machine. Speaking of which, he deals with all things automotive, while I take care of the laundry. He’s actually banned from touching the dryer. The man has shrunk one too many pairs of my yoga pants. When it comes to parenting, we share duties equally. Sometimes we employ the “good cop, bad cop” routine. I’m always the good cop because I can’t stomach the bad cop shtick.When Avery was first diagnosed and we got a glimpse of what we might be dealing with, we realized that one parent would need to stay home full-time. We both knew it would be me. Not that my[…]

Apr 24 2013

Full disclosure I used to think (and even squawk out loud) that I didn’t understand the purpose of ride on cars. “Shouldn’t kids be exercising? Make them pedal for heaven’s sake! Are we raising a generation of lazy kids?!” I’m here to say that I was wrong and stand corrected. To make amends for my judgey ignorance, I invite any parent to whom I may have spouted off about this, to drive over me with their kids’ ride on vehicle. My daughter has been asking for one of these forEVER! She’s seen other kids riding them in the park and down our street and she’s been relentless. So this Christmas, look what Santa (aka my friends at Fisher-Price) delivered… It’s the Dora Jeep Wrangler in all it’s glory. To say my child was thrilled is an understatement. She couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel. However, Canadian winters are cold so we took our fun to our unfinished basement/indoor playground. At first she couldn’t steer. Like, at all. It was comical. I had to redirect her constantly until she started to understand the relationship between the steering wheel and where she wanted to go. It was like a light bulb[…]

Apr 08 2013

Have you ever looked at your child and asked, “What is going inside that head of yours?” Apparently there’s a way to find out. Just hook up them to tangle of rainbow coloured wires and take a gander at their brain waves… Avery has been having seizures since she was three years old. This is attributed in some way to her genetic disorder. Luckily for us, we have found the perfect balance of medications and outside of a few minor absence seizures, she has been seizure free for nearly two years. She was tested a few years ago and the results showed “moderate seizure activity” despite having relatively few physical symptoms. So now it’s time again; the neurologist scheduled another peek via EEG. If no seizure activity is present, he will wean her off the anti seizure meds. This is both thrilling and terrifying… “But, what if her seizures come back?!” I protested. “She’s fine on the meds. Can’t we just wait a little longer?” “We need to give her a chance,” he told me. “You don’t keep someone on medication if they don’t need it.” He’s right. I may not like it, but this is what happens now.[…]

Tag - special needs

Good-Bye Six, Hello Seven

Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mummy, Ma, Mum…

Life Is A Highway

A Peek Inside Her Head