Introducing "Cane"

Jack has a new constant companion. No, no, Irish has not been replaced. Where Jack goes, Irish usually goes too but now you'll be seeing Jack, Irish, and "Cane". I read somewhere that it's good for a child who uses a cane to name it. As typical with Jack, he names things what they are [He's got a plush puppy named Woof woof, a barking plush dog named Barking Dog, etc.]. So his cane is Cane.

A cane? Why does Jack have a cane? He's not blind! No, he is not completely blind. I think my recent Life at Dusk post gives a fair analogy of what Jack's sight is like. The cane is for Jack like glasses are for a near-sighted child, it helps him to better understand what he sees. It helps him to better navigate the world around him.

But Jack already wears glasses! Yes, he does. The glasses protect his eyes. Jack's visual impairment is caused by optic nerve atrophy and cortical visual impairment. The problem is not the image that comes into his eyes. His eyes themselves actually do a great job and only need a slight amount of correction. So the glasses don't really help his vision in a functional way.

Here are a few more articles that might help you to better understand Jack's cane use.

Why Do You Want to Make that Child Blind?

STEP TOWARD EQUALITY: CANE TRAVEL TRAINING FOR THE YOUNG BLIND CHILD

Blind Enough for A Cane?

We introduced the cane late last week. David really got Jack's attention by taking the cane and walking around in our tiled bathroom. David didn't say a word but Jack heard that cane tapping and ran after David to see what was going on. Here's a shot of that first evening.

David's next step as Jack's orientation and mobility instructor was to take Jack on an outdoor walk. Jack is already familiar with our home so he prefers not to use the cane in the home. David knew that we needed Jack to see that the cane actually benefitted him.

David is carrying a bamboo walking stick to simulate a cane and showing Jack how to keep the cane in front of him.

It wasn't long before Jack got the idea.

Of course, he's a little boy and he wanted to have a little fun like his Uncle Noah.

Here's a short video taken during this first cane outing.

After walking around on the sidewalk for a while we decided to try locating and going up and down curbs. Jack is very used to having to stop and shuffle walk until he finds the edge of the curb with his feet. Here's David trying to help him realize the cane can help him find the curb so he can continue his normal pace.

Jack discoved on his own that the cane helped him to "see" that the white lines in the parking lot were flat and not elevated. He was fascinated by this and ran his cane over and over the area.

Here's Jack proudly posing with his cane. He told me "Achoo [it's how we used to get him to smile for pictures] take a picture."

Learning how to manage the cane in the grass.

Tap tap tap on the wall

Using the cane to explore the park

Fun fun fun

He's still a little boy so sometimes he has to be reminded that the cane goes on the ground not waved around in the air.

Still perfecting the technique for uneven ground

Crossing a bridge over the creek

Hey Daddy, come sit with us on the creek bank!

Click for more Wordless Wednesday, Wordful Wednesday, and Special Exposure Wednesday posts.

Where the Beep Beep Went Wrong

You might want to review last week's Where the Beep Beep Went Right. And then the intro....

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

You might remember this and this and this

from last year's Beeping Easter Egg Hunt. I was NOT making the same mistakes this year! If he did not want to hunt Easter eggs or pose with his basket, that was fine. We would just enjoy being outside and he could run along the yellow tape to his heart's content.

*As a quick aside, anybody notice that my kiddo has had another growth spurt?*

So that's it...I did everything right and we had an awesome time with no issues at all that day! Yeah, right!

Not long after he began running around in the grass, Jack started asking me to carry him. I tried and tried and tried to tell him to walk but oh no he wanted Mama to carry him. I thought maybe it was because the sun was too bright and I forgot his sunglass clip ons. When the sun is very very bright he tends to get clingy or he gets rooted to one spot or the shade. I relented and carried him around a bit until we happened upon the trampoline and he declared, "Shoes off, jump, jump!" as he frantically pushed at his sandals.

He slowly worked his way up to a standing position on the trampoline as I snapped pictures

.

That's when I noticed how big (relative to how small they were) his feet are getting. I checked out his toes and sure enough his little piggies were rubbing against the inside of those sandals. No wonder he did not want to walk!

A fairly short time after we started jumping (relative to the amount of time we usually spend jumping on a trampoline every time we get a chance), someone announced that the tactile puppet show was about to start. I'd had my heart set on Jack experiencing the tactile puppet show. I gave him the 10 minute countdown and we went inside where he immediately began fussing about going back outside.

It was a bit loud with the live music and people just coming in for the puppet show. I told Jack that this was new and fun. I told him that I wanted him to give it a try before he decided that he did not like it.

A musician brought a drum over and Jack began banging away in about 15 seconds of pure joy but then it clicked...I guess he thought I tricked him. He began getting all upset again and the musician just did not know what to do. Frankly, I didn't either. I was playing all this by ear. I told the musician to go ahead and move on to the next participant since I did not think Jack wanted to play anymore. I tried for another eternity five minutes or so to get Jack to calm down and feel the puppets but he just wasn't having it.

A sympathetic mom offered that her son also gets overwhelmed in large noisy crowds like that one. While I thought that some of it was tantrum (about wanting to be outside), I had to agree that the environment was a bit overwhelming. I took him just outside the door in hopes that he would calm down enough to return. He did calm down but he wasn't going back and that's when we headed for the swings and he was happy again.

So where's the therapy in all this? Well there was the new experience, the jumping, the running around, the listening to instructions (sort of) but mostly there's the review....overall Jack had fun. I know the parts that he enjoyed the best. In review, I can tell you where I went wrong--too small shoes, no sunglass clip ons, not really giving him clear information about the puppet show and how there would be lots of noise and lots of people. Each time, we try something new it prepares us both for the next time we have that experience and if I take the time to review what went right and what went wrong, then I can do a better job the next time. I'll never anticipate everything. I'll never get everything right. It's part of the parenting journey. And now I'm a little further along on the journey. Each experience better prepares for the next especially if we take the time to think over just what happened.

Next time an event doesn't go like you planned, I encourage you to take a little time and review.

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:

Boring Life
Spring Break
Code Words
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and leave your link in the comments. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Life at Dusk

Do you ever think and think and think some more about a subject but find that you cannot wrap your brain around an idea? So you just kind of shelve it and labor along with your limited ability to understand. Then one day something fairly insignificant happens and the cartoon light bulb pops on over your head and you hear the ding ding of the jackpot in your ears?


Jack would live outside if we would let him. We returned home from church one evening and the usual clamoring to play outside began from the back seat. "Okay, 10 minutes!" I declared with a plan to be firm.

We stepped out of our garage into the cooling evening temperatures and I shivered a bit, glad that I had already time-limited this little adventure.

Jack took off for our backyard. I ran after him as my eyes began to adjust to the dim light from our neighbors' houses and the few street lights. I could make out Jack's form ahead of me and I could tell that he had dark colored clothing on but I could not make out the color. When he turned toward me, I recognized the shape of his face and his glasses but I could not make out his facial expression. I thought I saw something in the dark and tried to step over it but my foot found nothing to step over. I tripped over the garden hose that did not stand out in the dark. I found myself able to make my way around the yard but the trip over the garden hose was enough to make me extra cautious lest I fall over any other unseen objects in my path.

Suddenly, ding ding ding, a heavy fog lifted from my brain. This is it! This must be it. Jack lives in a constant state of dusk. He's not completely blind. He can see but he has difficulty making out fine details. Without high contrast and good lighting, he cannot distinguish one color from another. He needs high contrast thick letters 2-3 inches high for near work.

It's life at dusk with a couple of additional challenges. The difference in the left and right eye causes Jack not to use his left eye causing depth perception issues. We also learned at Jack's recent follow up with the vision rehabilitation doctor that Jack has cortical visual impairment.

His brain does not always process the signals it receives appropriately. Some days he sees better than others.

Here's a quote I found interesting "When a child with CVI needs to control his head, use his vision, and perform fine motor tasks, the effort can be compared to a neurologically intact adult learning to knit while walking a tightrope." And that is just if a child has CVI.

I guess you'd have to add "at dusk and without depth perception" to the end of the quote to describe Jack's optic nerve atrophy as well as his CVI.

Take a walk at dusk sometime and think of Jack.

Where the Beep Beep went Right

The Series will return....we're still trying to get caught up around here and that includes returning to a regular posting schedule. If you've got a Life is Therapy story, please feel free to either leave a link or leave your story in the comments.

We went to the Beeping Easter Egg Hunt again this year.
This year, I was smart. I had my expectations in line. I knew what his favorite parts would be.....

the HAMBURGERS,

just being out of doors,

jumping on the trampoline,

and swinging.

Come back later and I'll fill you in on what I got wrong...

Easter Tradition?

Anybody remember last year's ignoring of the Easter basket? Well this year, Jack actually met the Easter Bunny! Mr. E. Bunny himself went to Jack's school and shook Jack's hand. Ms. Sunny reported that Jack thought the Easter Bunny was one funny guy.

We were thrilled! Since Jack enjoyed meeting Mr. Bunny, we thought it would be a little more concrete for him this year. I talked to Jack about how the Easter Bunny was going to bring him a basket with some surprises. And with a few ideas from some friends, there were great items in the basket. They were sure to please. I just *knew* that this year was going to be different.

To help build the anticipation, I really hyped up the Easter Bunny and the basket on Saturday. Then Saturday evening, I got Jack to help me decorate a very tactile high contrast Easter egg.

It's a foam "egg" on black construction paper. Jack added the bright foam shapes stickers.

I told Jack that we were decorating the egg and leaving it in the basket to let the Easter Bunny know that we celebrate Easter and he was welcome to stop by our house. I even got Jack to help me put the basket in place. My plan was going great!

Sunday morning we woke up to find the egg moved to the art wall and the basket filled.

Dancing, singing, light up rabbit, Spinner rabbit, water balloons, bubble spinner, spinning tops, chocolate Easter bunny, miscellaneous candy, cheese puffs, and popcorn.

And here is a transcript of our conversation:

Marie: Let's see what the Easter Bunny brought you!

Jack: Take a bath!

M: You want to take a bath now?

J: Yes. Irish!

M: Okay, let's go find Irish.

J: Searching. Irish.

M: Searching. (Spots Irish). In the bag.

J: (vision not so good this AM--fluctuates due to cortical visual impairment) Irish?

M: In the bag.

J: Irish?

M: (thumps Irish to make noise) Here's Irish!

J: Irish! (Grabs Irish)

M: (squeezes singing, dancing, light up bunny's hand hoping to generate Easter basket interest) Look!

J: Turn it off.

M: Turn it off?

J: Yes.

M: (turns bunny off)

J: Take a bath (heads to bathroom)

*sigh* Jack was not this conversational last year. He speaks so much more and so much more clearly this year. We have much to be grateful for. But I have to be honest....I really really really wanted him to get excited about that basket this year!

To see other's Magic Marker Monday posts and to link up yourself, click here.

Where is All Access Pass to Jack?

PEEK A BOO!

Sorry I've been scarce around these parts. We have had some very busy days in our household. I hope to get back to more regular posting soon but I wanted to reassure all of you that Jack is not sick or having surgery or anything. He is busy growing and being a little boy and amazing us with how mature he is becoming.

Haircuts have always been a big chore for Jack. Back when he is around one and a half, David and I decided that haircuts were a Jack and Daddy activity. Jack would flail his extremities and his head so that he looked like he was caught up in a tornado while getting his hair cut.

David has been taking Jack to Ms. Barbara, the barber, since that time. Ms. Barbara has always been patient and understanding. In fact, she and her cohorts at the barber shop kept telling us that they have seen much worse.

Then there was yesterday. Jack walked into the barber shop without fuss. He walked up to Ms. Barbara and said "Hey!" After she said, "Hey Jack", he said "Sit in the chair." Ms. Barbara set up the chair for Jack to sit alone and to everyone's amazement, Jack climbed up, sat down and sat still for his haircut. Ms. Barbara said, "Who is this? Where did Jack go?"

Code Words

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

What are code words? Code words are those "magic" little phrases that are the substitute for a long drawn out explanation. For example, I have a little boy who loves to stand up on a basketball, stand in a rolling office chair, jump up and down in the bathtub, flip on the bed....you know...if it's unsafe he is all about it. A phrase that is often heard at our house is "Jack! Stay safe." "Jack! Stay safe" means "Jack, do not stand up in that office chair. That chair can topple over and you will crack your head open on the filing cabinets. Get down now!" AND it means "Jack, do not use Irish as a step stool to lean over the upstairs railing. You could topple over the side!" It also means "Jack, do not even think about going out into the street without me." AND "Jack, do not touch the stove." The phrase reminds Jack to stop and think about what he is doing. It focuses his attention (for a moment anyway) and makes him remember what we've told him.

How do you develop "code words"? Choose a very simple phrase that succintly sums up what you want to say. Our "Jack. Stay safe." arose from constantly telling him that we wanted to keep him safe. Eventually we narrowed it down to "Jack. Stay safe."

Next, you form the associations with the words. Every time you encounter a new situation where the phrase applies, you say the phrase, ("Jack. Stay safe."), confirm that you have the child's attention, and then give a simple yet longer explanation. For instance, Jack's latest trick is jumping on the bed. When he first tried to show me this nifty trick, I said "Jack! Stay safe.", helped him to the floor, and said "Jump on the floor." He climbed up on the bed again later and I repeated, "Jack! Stay safe. Jump on the floor." Soon enough, the association was created and if I saw him stand on the bed I would say only "Jack stay safe" and he would sit down on or crawl off the bed.

The great thing about code words is they are portable from person to person. We told the school our "Jack. Stay safe." phrase and they are using it there too.

His teacher taught us a phrase she uses to get a child to give her his full attention. "Look at my face."

We also use "Pay attention" to let Jack know that we need him to really focus on what we are saying.

Jack has evidently learned these code words really well. Last weekend, he said, "Pay attention" and gently turned my face toward his. It worked. I took notice and began paying attention.
Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
Just Snuggle
Get Your Boredom Going
Spring Break
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and leave a link in the comments. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

St. Patrick's Day

 used his two hands to squeeze the glitter glue

and colored a blue shamrock

You may need to click on this to be able to read it

To see other's Magic Marker Monday posts and to link up yourself, click here.

Spring Break

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

It's Spring Break in our local community. This week, I'm just encouraging you to go be silly with your kids.

Later, when you reflect on the silly fun you had, you may realize just how many "Life is Therapy" moments you had. Come back and tell me about them! Get out there!

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
Boring is Good
Just Snuggle
Get Your Boredom Going



For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and put a link to your post in your comment. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Sensory Experience with White

Remember Ms. Denise's color plan? Jack has moved on to white.....he's not enjoying it quite as much as black. Here's Ms. Sunny getting Jack to play in shaving cream. I don't know where Ms. Denise was for this shot.

To see other's Magic Marker Monday posts and to link up yourself, click here.

Safety FAIL

You know how we are super uber safety conscious 'round here?

umm......

Please remember that the "chest" clip is what keeps your child from flying out of his 5 point harness and it belongs in the super safe zone about level with the arm pits. And moms, if the family is in a hurry and Dad helps Junior into the car, check the car seat before you snap your cute picture of riding off to visit friends.

For more Friday FAILs, click here.

How to Get the Perfect Posed Shot

Back in December of last year, I gave a tutorial on How to Get the Perfect Group Shot. So many of you laughed uncontrollably over my lack of skills found my tutorial to be helpful so I've decided to help you with another lesson. Today, we'll talk about capturing the perfect posed shot.

Step 1: Seat subject in front of lovely background and get him prepared for the shot.

*ahem* Prepared for the shot?

Alrighty then!

Step 2: Snap your lovely picture.

Uh....focus? Did I forget to mention focusing the camera?

Eh....if subject looks up at camera while sitting in front of lovely background and you've got him in focus, just snap the picture, his shirt got dirty before the photo session so you know you weren't going to send it out anyway he's so adorable he looks great smiling or not!

They made us do it!

Each week, Jack's class has a theme. Each day, he has to bring in an item related to the theme. Tuesday's assignment was to bring in a fast food wrapper. What were we to do? It's homework, after all!

Click for more Wordless Wednesday, Wordful Wednesday, and Special Exposure Wednesday posts.

Go see yesterday's post to learn how you too can have a boring life!

Heavy Heart

I've been in a bad mood all day. Everything irked me. The world just seemed off kilter and I've been mad about it. There were brief moments today when I realized that I was sad. It's the weather. I miss the sunshine. That's what I told myself. But no, it's just that my heart is heavy.

A little boy named Isaiah died early this morning/late last night just before I went to bed. I've never met him or his family but I'd been praying for them after some friends alerted me that he was not doing well and was in the hospital.

Now I pray for his mom and dad and my heart aches for them. Could you pray for them too?

You Too Can Have a Boring Life!

I know it seems like just a dream but you CAN make it happen for you! But first, the intro....

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

Two weeks ago, we talked about how Boring is Good. Since then, I know you have all been scratching your heads wondering just how completely crazy I am why David and Jack put up with me how you might make life a little more boring for your family. I came across this blog post that showed an awesome organizational system for keeping the house a bit tidier but also letting everyone know what to expect next.

It actually inspired me to get out some old picture cards that I made a LONG time ago that Jack did not really respond to much.

In the first column, there are pictures that illustrate time to potty (told you these were old), time for night night stories, and time for medicine. The next column is time for teeth brushing and time for bath.

Now that he is a bit older and better able to focus, it seems that the cards help him to process my verbal instructions regarding what comes next. I keep the cards in a little folder and just pull out the one that represents the next activity. They could also be used to create a visual schedule as Jenn did in her guest post on Raising Memories.

Picture cards can also be used to aid your child in making choices. For instance, if you are giving your child the choice between playing with play-doh or coloring, you could present him/her with a card with a picture of play-doh and a card with picture of crayons. The visual representation along with your spoken words may help your child process exactly what his/her options are. This choice making method can also help you to better understand a child who is in the early stages of talking or has some other reason that he/she is difficult to understand verbally.

You don't have to make your own cards. There are a few sites on the internet that have ready to print images. Heather Lynne mentioned All About Me. There's also Do2Learn, English4Kids, and Teach Children ESL. Don't be intimidated by the fact that these sites mention autism and foreign language speakers, the cards can be used for whatever purpose you have in mind.

Go check out the sites and have fun creating your boring life!

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
The Grocery Store
TV is NOT the Enemy
Boring is Good
Just Snuggle
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Jack's Book of Black

I mentioned a couple of week's ago that Ms. Denise (Jack's itenerant teacher) put together a plan to teach Jack his colors so that we could distinguish whether he was color blind or just doesn't know his colors yet.

The first two week's focus color was black. Ms. Denise created this nifty book for Jack.

She brought it to school and had him help her finish the last page.

It was patterned on the Brown Bear What do you see? book series. She made it very tactile with black feathers and black forks and made it interactive by having Jack do the last page. Great work, Ms. Denise!

To see other's Magic Marker Monday posts and to link up yourself, click here.

There's More to Our Story

It has been a tiring, stressful week in the All Access Pass to Jack household. We thank you so much for your prayers and support. Jack did not vomit again last night and he settled into a restful sleep a little after midnight. He did not wake up crying any after that.

Apparently, Jack's recent stomach virus has temporarily (we hope) slowed down his ability to move food through his stomach resulting in nighttime vomiting. And he has a viral sinus infection and another ear infection.

This morning, he was a little irritable but he's usually that way when he has a new ear infection. He was fine after a little motrin. He went to school today. Ms. Sunny reports that he spent most of the day laughing. Ms. Denise was happy to report that he identified mini oreos as the black cookies.

Jack has had several rough nights from the vomiting that have left his parents completely exhausted. Children, however, bounce back from exhaustion a lot quicker. We were too tired to think of anything else wanted Jack to see what other children do when they are not at school so we let him watch a few You Tube videos. He has recently developed a fascination for little Ali so we watched her You Tube videos a few times. He was fond of her rendition of the ABC's but the Alabama Tutorial really got him moving.

 

It's 10 pm and Jack seems to be resting well and has not vomited. We are praying for a restful night's sleep. Good night!

We really just don't know....

I wanted to be witty tonight. I wanted to do a post Grasping for Objectivity-style that would make you chuckle about our doctor's visit today but my baby my sweet sweet baby just threw up again. And tonight it was much more than he threw up the past two nights. This was food that he ate 7 hours ago. It doesn't make any sense....and he keeps waking up crying. He just doesn't do that and of course I'm worried that maybe it's his head...please just pray.

Home Made Sinus Remedies

Even before Jack's stomach flu began, he's been having increased secretions and difficulty breathing at night due to that ever changing barometric pressure. Our family doc suggested Breathe Right Strips. I told him that I figured the concept would work but reminded him that Jack (who was not present) had an unusual nose and the Breathe Right Strips just didn't do their thing on him. "No problem," he said. He put his fingers on my face and showed the effect I was trying to create and said, "Just use band-aids." David laughed at me when I did this but it worked!

My bloggy friend Sheila also sent me these great tips from her Wellness Blog. I'm going to try these too (on me and Jack).

Click for more Wordless Wednesday, Wordful Wednesday, and Special Exposure Wednesday posts.

Don't forget to check out this week's Life is Therapy where we take a break for snuggling and last week's Life is Therapy where I tell you why boring is good.

Just Snuggle

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you know that we have been bombarded by virus after virus after virus this season. We don't seem to get over one before another has started. Some are mild and we rock right along and others just knock us down.

The latest virus is of the knockdown variety but I'm glad to be getting some relief from today's trip to the doctor so that I am able to put up the weekly post.

This week I want to remind you what's most important about Life is Therapy. It's about the connection. The more you are connected to your kiddo, the more you can enter his/her world and see what interests them and use that to teach them skills they need for the world around them. And sometimes having that connection means it's time to drop everything, throw a blanket and some pillows on the floor and just snuggle....

*Yes, he is so tall that his feet reach down to my knees but when he is sick, he thinks he is still just a tiny baby* laying on his Mama’s chest. *Yes, I am aware that he was never a tiny baby.

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:

Boring is Good
TV is not the Enemy
The Grocery Store
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Praises During this Small Storm

Jack threw up again sometime last night/early this morning. It's all a blur sometimes. The scary thing is that we did not wake up immediately when it happened. It seems like God usually jolts me awake for these things. But no worries God had his eye on Jack as usual and Jack was laying facedown when I woke up. ***Stop reading here and skip down to the last few sentences of this paragraph if you have a weak stomach.*** I know this is a little graphic but I just want you to know how much God takes care of our little guy. Jack was lying facedown and that caused all the vomit to exit the mask into the Bipap tubing so he did not breathe it in and cause lung damage. Our God is an amazing glorious God who deserves oh so much more praise than I will ever give!!! Anyway I don't know how long he laid like that before I woke up and turned on the light to check on him because I realized something was odd (yet another praise because I was really very sleepy and was just going to turn him over but something (shout out to God!) made me turn on the light first). Anyhow, I turned on the light and was getting him cleaned up when he began vomiting again and much more that time. He refused to eat all day and David said he was pretty lethargic until I finally dragged back home. He perked up a little when his biggest playmate and snuggly comfort item (ME!) arrived. He did eat a little dinner (some cereal and fruit bars--his choice). He's been asleep for a couple of hours and he has not thrown up yet. Pray pray!


Dave is feeling okay. He says he's feeling better since he's at home where he has his medications (Mucinex and Sudafed) and remembers to take them.

I had to work today while my brain tried to knock its way out of my skull little by little. I went to the doctor this afternoon. He says that my neck and shoulder pain were most likely the precursor to me getting sick. He says it's yet another viral sinus infection to be blamed on the ever changing barometric pressure. He gave me a shot to decrease the inflammation, particularly my throat and gave me some other meds and praise the good Lord, meds for my head to quit pounding. They are working.