On Friday, January 13, I wrote about my Weight Watchers/weight loss journey, and I promised an update in 6 months. Well hi, I didn't actually plan this, but it's EXACTLY 6 months later and I'm going to let you know how it's going.
In a nutshell, and to save you from having to read my blather if you don't have any interest in doing so, it is going extremely well.
This is a really long post that will be continued...after the jump!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
CONTEST OVER: Win a free bottle of new Purex Triple Action detergent! - July 9, 2012
This contest is now closed. Thank you!
I love it when I get to offer my blog readers a contest - especially one that's as easy to win as this one.
THREE people will win a coupon for a free bottle of new Purex Triple Action detergent (a value of up to $6!).
It's super easy to enter - go to the Purex Let's Be Honest video page (http://www.purex.com/lets-be-honest) and watch the videos that are there. Then come back here and comment with which video is your favorite! (The videos are really cute. My favorite is Honest Moment #10 - Morning Person. Your response should look like that, with a number and a title.)
You can get one bonus entry (leave a separate comment) if you share the Let's Be Honest video page using the handy dandy buttons below each video (Like it, Tweet it, Pin it, whatever you want - you can do that once and then come here and tell me, with a link to it if possible).
Leave me a way to contact you in the comment if it's not going to be obvious to me how to do so.
I will choose the winners via random.org on July 16, 2012. You'll have 48 hours from when I email you saying you've won to send me your address - otherwise, I'll move on to another winner.
Easy peasy! Good luck!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Where does the time go? Let me tell you - July 6, 2012
My daughter turns five on Sunday. FIVE! That's a big one!
It's a common thing for people to say "Wow, where has the time gone?" when a child gets older, though.
"Wow, they grow up so fast!"
"Wow, just yesterday she was so little! They get so big, it's so sad."
And I hate that.
I'll tell you where the time has gone. It's gone to doctors and therapists and IEP meetings and pounds and pounds of paperwork.
When a kid turns five years old, most of the time there's a dramatic difference between how she acts now and how she was when she was five months old. In our case, that's not necessarily so. I mean, inside she's definitely the same as her five-year-old peers - there is no doubt about that. She reads, she understands, she communicates with us, she is quirky and funny and just so damn smart. But she can't walk, she can't talk. In some ways she's really not that much different - on the surface, it's definitely not that dramatic thing that other families may see.
I wish I could stop people from lamenting that she's getting older and start celebrating it. She's here! She's thriving! She makes progress every day! What will she be like at six? At ten? At 20? These things excite me!
Time does pass too quickly. I wish I could go back to when I didn't know my child had cerebral palsy and when I was just enjoying her babyhood, cheering on the milestones she was hitting (she hit them on time for months), and not worrying about whether the new specialist would be able to squeeze us in. But I am absolutely not sad about her turning five. I'm thrilled!
Let us all celebrate the children in our lives - the milestones they reach, the ages they turn - and enjoy every second, minute, hour we have with them, rather than looking back at how many of those have gone by, shall we?
It's a common thing for people to say "Wow, where has the time gone?" when a child gets older, though.
"Wow, they grow up so fast!"
"Wow, just yesterday she was so little! They get so big, it's so sad."
And I hate that.
I'll tell you where the time has gone. It's gone to doctors and therapists and IEP meetings and pounds and pounds of paperwork.
When a kid turns five years old, most of the time there's a dramatic difference between how she acts now and how she was when she was five months old. In our case, that's not necessarily so. I mean, inside she's definitely the same as her five-year-old peers - there is no doubt about that. She reads, she understands, she communicates with us, she is quirky and funny and just so damn smart. But she can't walk, she can't talk. In some ways she's really not that much different - on the surface, it's definitely not that dramatic thing that other families may see.
I wish I could stop people from lamenting that she's getting older and start celebrating it. She's here! She's thriving! She makes progress every day! What will she be like at six? At ten? At 20? These things excite me!
Time does pass too quickly. I wish I could go back to when I didn't know my child had cerebral palsy and when I was just enjoying her babyhood, cheering on the milestones she was hitting (she hit them on time for months), and not worrying about whether the new specialist would be able to squeeze us in. But I am absolutely not sad about her turning five. I'm thrilled!
Let us all celebrate the children in our lives - the milestones they reach, the ages they turn - and enjoy every second, minute, hour we have with them, rather than looking back at how many of those have gone by, shall we?
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Words have power - July 5, 2012
I used to read a website that was a collection of anecdotes of things medical professionals said to women. Negative, ignorant, inaccurate, or just plain unhelpful things. Within that website, there was a regular commenter who had an agenda and who pushed that agenda on every post, with every comment made, even if the post had nothing to do with that person's agenda.
So imagine my surprise when this person with such a passionate belief in something (a belief I do not share and that I find offensive, but we won't get into that part of it) turned around and used the R-word very casually in one of that person's thoughtful and amazing (ahem) comments.
I did what I do in this case - I link to http://www.r-word.org and I ask the offender to please rethink the use of that word, which I and many people I know find hurtful for various reasons that are, honestly, too obvious for me to even list. I figured that perhaps it was a safe place to make this request, as most people who read the website believe in rights and the importance of shared information and whatnot.
As the Internet goes, I did expect some backlash. I also didn't really mean to go back and see said backlash - I had already broken my "DON'T EVER READ THE COMMENTS" rule (the only way to get the backstory on the anecdotes posted is to read the comments, though, so I frequently read the comments on this site as it seemed different...) and my "NEVER EVER RESPOND TO STUPIDITY IN THE COMMENTS" rule (guilty). But I genuinely forgot and went looking for the backstory and...wow.
Let me assure you of a few things - words do, in fact, hurt. Words do, in fact, have power. I don't have to "let them" (implication: I'm a whiny crybaby) to know that some words are problematic. Racial slurs are problematic. Homophobic slurs are problematic. Anti-semitic slurs are problematic. And on and on and on. And I really don't care if someone you know with a developmental delay or other disability told you that it was totally fine to use whatever words you wished. That person does not speak for every person. That person does not speak for me. That argument is as flawed as any other "I have friends of [whatever persuasion] and therefore I am not racist, sexist, homophobic, and I am allowed to do what I want without offending anyone."
Interestingly, as my own comment was anonymous and pretty short and sweet, I left no indication of my reason for requesting that the offending word not be used. While you, blog reader, know that it hurts me because I have a child with a disability as well as friends with disabilities and friends with children with disabilities, anyone reading my comment would not know any of that. Those attacking me read that comment and seemed to assume that I myself was not disabled or even that I had no good reason to dislike the word other than to be a part of the ZOMG PC POLICE or whatever.
Happily, there were a few voices of reason that I saw before I stopped scrolling (I didn't read everything, I backed away and didn't go back again). I guess I just don't understand why one would be so proud to defend the use of a word that has taken on a derogatory meaning - whether it began that way or not, whether it is a proper medical term or not, whether some people don't mind it or not, whether you grew up saying it or not. Whatever. I politely requested that the user of the slur look into it further and reconsider its use. I was slammed for it.
So let me be clear. I grew up saying this word and other problematic words as slang. I slip up sometimes. I am learning every day. And I hope you will learn too. I hope that if someone asks you to be respectful of his or her beliefs, you will pause and instead of getting defensive, you will listen and you will think about it the next time you open your mouth.
I like the site "Yo, Is This Racist?" because the guy behind it is so funny and smart at the same time. Something he's noted over and over is that you have the RIGHT to say whatever words you want. Saying those words just makes you a racist. But go ahead and say them...I'll be over here, thinking about what you just said....
So imagine my surprise when this person with such a passionate belief in something (a belief I do not share and that I find offensive, but we won't get into that part of it) turned around and used the R-word very casually in one of that person's thoughtful and amazing (ahem) comments.
I did what I do in this case - I link to http://www.r-word.org and I ask the offender to please rethink the use of that word, which I and many people I know find hurtful for various reasons that are, honestly, too obvious for me to even list. I figured that perhaps it was a safe place to make this request, as most people who read the website believe in rights and the importance of shared information and whatnot.
As the Internet goes, I did expect some backlash. I also didn't really mean to go back and see said backlash - I had already broken my "DON'T EVER READ THE COMMENTS" rule (the only way to get the backstory on the anecdotes posted is to read the comments, though, so I frequently read the comments on this site as it seemed different...) and my "NEVER EVER RESPOND TO STUPIDITY IN THE COMMENTS" rule (guilty). But I genuinely forgot and went looking for the backstory and...wow.
Let me assure you of a few things - words do, in fact, hurt. Words do, in fact, have power. I don't have to "let them" (implication: I'm a whiny crybaby) to know that some words are problematic. Racial slurs are problematic. Homophobic slurs are problematic. Anti-semitic slurs are problematic. And on and on and on. And I really don't care if someone you know with a developmental delay or other disability told you that it was totally fine to use whatever words you wished. That person does not speak for every person. That person does not speak for me. That argument is as flawed as any other "I have friends of [whatever persuasion] and therefore I am not racist, sexist, homophobic, and I am allowed to do what I want without offending anyone."
Interestingly, as my own comment was anonymous and pretty short and sweet, I left no indication of my reason for requesting that the offending word not be used. While you, blog reader, know that it hurts me because I have a child with a disability as well as friends with disabilities and friends with children with disabilities, anyone reading my comment would not know any of that. Those attacking me read that comment and seemed to assume that I myself was not disabled or even that I had no good reason to dislike the word other than to be a part of the ZOMG PC POLICE or whatever.
Happily, there were a few voices of reason that I saw before I stopped scrolling (I didn't read everything, I backed away and didn't go back again). I guess I just don't understand why one would be so proud to defend the use of a word that has taken on a derogatory meaning - whether it began that way or not, whether it is a proper medical term or not, whether some people don't mind it or not, whether you grew up saying it or not. Whatever. I politely requested that the user of the slur look into it further and reconsider its use. I was slammed for it.
So let me be clear. I grew up saying this word and other problematic words as slang. I slip up sometimes. I am learning every day. And I hope you will learn too. I hope that if someone asks you to be respectful of his or her beliefs, you will pause and instead of getting defensive, you will listen and you will think about it the next time you open your mouth.
I like the site "Yo, Is This Racist?" because the guy behind it is so funny and smart at the same time. Something he's noted over and over is that you have the RIGHT to say whatever words you want. Saying those words just makes you a racist. But go ahead and say them...I'll be over here, thinking about what you just said....
Monday, June 25, 2012
How my heart grows - June 25, 2012
I have several posts written, queued up, and ready to go, but they don't feel right (and while some are serious, there's also a contest I need to prep up and get ready and some lighthearted things) so I let them out and then I save them as drafts.
Instead, I will tell you how my heart has grown over the past few weeks.
This is definitely the summer of changes for my girl. Of course, along with leaps and milestones and inchstones come tantrums and behaviors and acting out. There are setbacks. There are problems. It's true.
BUT.
Potty training/learning/teaching/whatever is coming along very well. She has her off days, she has accidents, but she is doing so well that I think we really will be able to send her to pre-K without Pull Ups. Over the weekend, when we were at a friend's house, she didn't have any accidents, told me she needed to go every time, and just did wonderfully. Last week she even was willing to go in a public bathroom (she is usually pretty freaked out by those, though she insists on me taking her to every single bathroom in the known universe, often just so she can say "No" and we can walk back out).
We had an AAC evaluation that went so well that my whole "I don't want to get my hopes up" business went right out the window. I am VERY VERY excited about this new phase for her. She so desperately wants to communicate and talk. Tonight she talked to me steadily for about 2 solid minutes, and it sounded just like a foreign language that I'd simply never learned. It had cadence and inflection and she was very deliberate. I encouraged it, and I responded to it. And some of her words are becoming clearer (and she says "Cool!" and what I'm pretty sure - because she's said it too many times for the syllables to be random - is "I did!" when I ask her to do something/say something that she just did, whether I realized it or not). But with an AAC, she'll be able to really tell us things while we continue to work on her speech. The therapists were amazed at how quickly she figured out how to use the device, kept saying "she's so smart! she's picking it up so fast!" over and over. It made me so proud, and I choked up a bit when she started asking for her turn and their turn and more and pretty and bears and.... She's only tried out one device so far - hopefully we'll get to try another one this week or next - but I already kind of know which one I want for her, and her SLP is pushing for that one too. We'll see.
She has managed to get herself from a downward-facing dog position to standing and STAY STANDING a few times. She's gone from barely being able to even get in that position to bouncing on her hands (as her PT said she would) to getting up but then falling over immediately to STAYING PUT for a few seconds.
A plus B plus C equals amazing progress. She's always moving forward, always doing things. Sometimes, when we're alone, I forget that she has cerebral palsy for a while and she's just my girl, doing what she does. When we're with neurotypical kids, the sadness does creep in - watching her play with a four-year-old girl who runs and jumps and communicates with ease, that gets me down. But then I look at what she is doing and how quickly she is doing it and I catch myself from the fall and I celebrate instead.
She'll be five in about two weeks. Five years of this. I had no idea. But I think five is her year.
Instead, I will tell you how my heart has grown over the past few weeks.
This is definitely the summer of changes for my girl. Of course, along with leaps and milestones and inchstones come tantrums and behaviors and acting out. There are setbacks. There are problems. It's true.
BUT.
Potty training/learning/teaching/whatever is coming along very well. She has her off days, she has accidents, but she is doing so well that I think we really will be able to send her to pre-K without Pull Ups. Over the weekend, when we were at a friend's house, she didn't have any accidents, told me she needed to go every time, and just did wonderfully. Last week she even was willing to go in a public bathroom (she is usually pretty freaked out by those, though she insists on me taking her to every single bathroom in the known universe, often just so she can say "No" and we can walk back out).
We had an AAC evaluation that went so well that my whole "I don't want to get my hopes up" business went right out the window. I am VERY VERY excited about this new phase for her. She so desperately wants to communicate and talk. Tonight she talked to me steadily for about 2 solid minutes, and it sounded just like a foreign language that I'd simply never learned. It had cadence and inflection and she was very deliberate. I encouraged it, and I responded to it. And some of her words are becoming clearer (and she says "Cool!" and what I'm pretty sure - because she's said it too many times for the syllables to be random - is "I did!" when I ask her to do something/say something that she just did, whether I realized it or not). But with an AAC, she'll be able to really tell us things while we continue to work on her speech. The therapists were amazed at how quickly she figured out how to use the device, kept saying "she's so smart! she's picking it up so fast!" over and over. It made me so proud, and I choked up a bit when she started asking for her turn and their turn and more and pretty and bears and.... She's only tried out one device so far - hopefully we'll get to try another one this week or next - but I already kind of know which one I want for her, and her SLP is pushing for that one too. We'll see.
She has managed to get herself from a downward-facing dog position to standing and STAY STANDING a few times. She's gone from barely being able to even get in that position to bouncing on her hands (as her PT said she would) to getting up but then falling over immediately to STAYING PUT for a few seconds.
A plus B plus C equals amazing progress. She's always moving forward, always doing things. Sometimes, when we're alone, I forget that she has cerebral palsy for a while and she's just my girl, doing what she does. When we're with neurotypical kids, the sadness does creep in - watching her play with a four-year-old girl who runs and jumps and communicates with ease, that gets me down. But then I look at what she is doing and how quickly she is doing it and I catch myself from the fall and I celebrate instead.
She'll be five in about two weeks. Five years of this. I had no idea. But I think five is her year.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Thrifting with the family - June 13, 2012
I lied. I got to go thrifting again! All three of us went to visit my friend and since my daughter is rapidly growing out of her shirts, I convinced my husband that we should also stop off at my two favorite stores. And yet...I only bought things at one of the stores, because, let's face it, my closets and her drawers are all bursting at the seams. I'll need more clothes when the weather changes, but for now I'm pretty set with summery stuff.
Still, somehow I managed to get a few things for me and a bunch of things for her. I spent $16 total for everything you'll see below. (My husband bought some shirts at the second store, but this isn't his blog... heh.) Neither she nor I had time to try anything on, but...it was all so cheap, I took chances.
Still, somehow I managed to get a few things for me and a bunch of things for her. I spent $16 total for everything you'll see below. (My husband bought some shirts at the second store, but this isn't his blog... heh.) Neither she nor I had time to try anything on, but...it was all so cheap, I took chances.
 |
| Shorts for her, including a pair that reminded me of one she already has. (Exciting, I know.) |
 |
| This shirt changes color in the sun. I was hoping to have a before-and-after picture but I didn't have a chance. WATCH THIS SPACE. |
 |
| Gymboree shorts at the top left. The middle skirt has shorts underneath. |
 |
| Oh hay Hanna. |
 |
| Husband chose this one, which surprised me. It's a bit...more...dress...you know. And it's missing a button on the back (easily fixed). I bet she'll be crazy adorable in it, if she wears it. |
 |
| And another dress! I picked this one - it's too big but it was so cute. Hopefully she'll wear it eventually. |
 |
| The T-shirts she needed. Ridiculously consistent color scheme not planned. |
 |
| Polka dots! |
 |
| Time for mama's clothes! I hope this fits. It's also dry-clean only, which is a pain, but so pretty! Ann Taylor Loft! |
 |
| Running shirt in mint condition. |
 |
| Oh do I have a weakness for shirts like this. And I am moody... |
 |
| Cat not thrifted yesterday. He insisted on not moving. The shirts are all plain anyway (I grab plain black shirts when I see them because I love them so - there are 2 black, a brown, and a grey-ish in this picture. And a cat.) |
 |
| "Look at me! Don't look at the silly toad shirt! LOOK. AT. ME! I CUTE!" |
The end!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The alphabet soup life - June 6, 2012
Sometimes I really, truly forget that not everyone has to deal with what I have to deal with. That not everyone is running around coordinating therapies and specialists, prescriptions and insurance companies, appointments and more appointments. Really? This isn't normal? I've never known anything different in childrearing, and I totally lose myself in it all.
Today, for example. We had an appointment to pick up her SMOs (after which we got extra super awesome cupcakes from a brand-new local bakery, I should add). Meanwhile I'd spent all day talking to the therapy practice that we were hoping would do her AAC evaluation - I'd called a month ago to be put on the waiting list but figured if I hadn't heard back in a month I'd squeak my wheel in their direction. So I did and there were many back and forth calls figuring out details (calls that may not ever have happened if I hadn't made that "just checking" call yesterday, I suspect), an appointment was set - and their office is an hour away, so I had to make sure we could get back to our side of the world in time for the standing OT appointment my kid always has.
(As an aside, we are SO lucky that almost all of our appointments happen within a 5 mile radius - so far we only have had to travel a good bit for the pediatric dentist, because we love her, and we very rarely used to go to a Shriner's Hospital that was about 3 hours away, but we stopped when we got Medicaid and that made the traveling unnecessary.)
Anyway, yeah, sometimes it feels like my life - the life of a parent of a child with special needs - is all about this type of schedule. Not the schedule I envisioned, which would've been full of summer camps and museums and playdates. But I'm not complaining either - things are actually going very well, my daughter thrives in these therapies, and the progress she's making is astounding.
I just wonder what everyone else does with all that free time they so surely have. (I kid. I kid. All parents are busy, no matter what, I know.)
I am so used to this alphabet soup life that it doesn't make me blink at all anymore, I guess.
Today, for example. We had an appointment to pick up her SMOs (after which we got extra super awesome cupcakes from a brand-new local bakery, I should add). Meanwhile I'd spent all day talking to the therapy practice that we were hoping would do her AAC evaluation - I'd called a month ago to be put on the waiting list but figured if I hadn't heard back in a month I'd squeak my wheel in their direction. So I did and there were many back and forth calls figuring out details (calls that may not ever have happened if I hadn't made that "just checking" call yesterday, I suspect), an appointment was set - and their office is an hour away, so I had to make sure we could get back to our side of the world in time for the standing OT appointment my kid always has.
(As an aside, we are SO lucky that almost all of our appointments happen within a 5 mile radius - so far we only have had to travel a good bit for the pediatric dentist, because we love her, and we very rarely used to go to a Shriner's Hospital that was about 3 hours away, but we stopped when we got Medicaid and that made the traveling unnecessary.)
Anyway, yeah, sometimes it feels like my life - the life of a parent of a child with special needs - is all about this type of schedule. Not the schedule I envisioned, which would've been full of summer camps and museums and playdates. But I'm not complaining either - things are actually going very well, my daughter thrives in these therapies, and the progress she's making is astounding.
I just wonder what everyone else does with all that free time they so surely have. (I kid. I kid. All parents are busy, no matter what, I know.)
I am so used to this alphabet soup life that it doesn't make me blink at all anymore, I guess.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)