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But she might…

8 May
As soon as my tires hit the gravel and I pull into R.O.C.K where Oli rides her horse, she gets THIS look on her face. She knows exactly where we are and what is about to happen. Then I say, "Oli we're HERE!!! It's time to ride your horse!" And she starts frantically clapping and yelling. She knows. No one can tell me that she doesn't understand. Just look at her face. I KNOW she knows.

As soon as my tires hit the gravel and I pull into R.O.C.K where Oli rides her horse, she gets THIS look on her face. She knows exactly where we are and what is about to happen. Then I say, “Oli we’re HERE!!! It’s time to ride your horse!” And she starts frantically clapping and yelling. She knows. No one can tell me that she doesn’t understand. Just look at her face. I KNOW she knows.

I posted this picture on my facebook page today. I posted it to show an example of what one of Oli’s expressions look like. This is an expression of “I know what is happening and I’m going to sit really quietly for a second and then I’m going to get really excited because I love what we’re about to do”. She has LOTS of these looks.

Some people have told me throughout her life that because she has an intellectual disability, is delayed and has autism, she doesn’t understand. That she couldn’t possibly understand because she doesn’t speak and because her cognitive development is delayed. We know that she is missing some of her genes off of her 14th chromosome. We know that this has affected her development and her learning. We know because she has done everything later than everyone else. We know that. I know that.

I know that despite being told that she may never walk independently, eat independently, have anticipation of events, be aware of her surroundings, have a sense of humor, the ability to laugh and to love, be funny, be brave, show strength and determination, cry, be sad, be mad, get frustrated… she has. I know that she has proved those people wrong every single time. And I know that she DOES understand. She does. I know because I KNOW her. Sometimes I feel like I know her better than I know myself. For whatever reason, she just can’t tell me what she understands with words.

I know that I may NOT know exactly what she is capable of in the future, but that I will ALWAYS give her a chance.

I know that I will ALWAYS believe in her.

ALWAYS.

That’s my job as her mother.

To believe in her despite all the odds, the challenges, the setbacks, the regression, the frustration and tears. Despite text books that tell me what she will or won’t do. Despite well educated doctor’s opinions and the opinions of the rest of the world. I will believe in her. I will never expect her to do less than her very best and I will never accept the words “She will never…”.

Because she might.

Because she probably will.

And even if she doesn’t do something or say something, I will go to my grave believing that it is still possible.

Some may call that naïve or say that I’m in denial. I’m not. I know that there is always the possibility that she will never move out, go to college, or get married.

But she might…

I will never ever be able to look into her sweet face and not see the sky as the limit. I will never take anyone else’s opinion on what she will or won’t do as fact. Oli will have to prove it to me. And even then, I will still push her. I will push her to have confidence and believe in herself. To set goals and achieve them. I will push her to develop her own sense of identity and to be kind. To love other people and to be respectful. To be understanding and to be grateful for what she has. To live and to laugh and to never look back. To view past mistakes as learning opportunities and chances to grow. To greet each day with optimism, and with a smile on her face, and to act better than she feels. To know that every day will not be perfect, but that’s okay. I want to push her to do her best with what she has and to be proud of who she is. I want her to be prideful instead of pitiful. I never want the world to take pity on her and I never want her to feel like she deserves it when they do.
Because they will.

She may never be able to do these things.

But she might…

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Heartache written on a piece of paper

1 May

Before I move on with my story, I have to write about Oli’s mandatory 3 year evaluation for school. They evaluate her to determine her progress and also to determine whether or not she still meets the eligibility qualifications for services. She’ll be 6 years old on May 10th.

O&M was the first evaluation scheduled to be completed. O&M stands for orientation and mobility and focuses on body awareness, spacial concepts, walking and navigating around the environment as a blind or visually impaired child. As a totally blind kiddo, Oli always qualifies for O&M. Her O&M instructor is absolutely fabulous. She is a wonderful woman and teacher and I really like and respect her. She has been with Oli since we moved to Texas when she only was 2 ½ years old.

I have to tell you that, before I get into the results of her evaluation. Before I tell you how little progress Oli seems to have made in the last 3 years. This is NOT, in any way, a reflection on her teacher.

This is just Oli. This has always been Oli.

You see, progress is slow with her. She does do new things and accomplishes goals every once in a while. It just doesn’t happen very quickly or very often.

It’s hard.

It’s so hard to watch your child work so hard and struggle. To try and to fail. To improve and do something new, only to have it slip away. Some of her new skills have diminished and then disappeared completely. At the beginning of the school year Oli was standing up from the middle of the floor all by herself. She would just stand up and every once in a while she would start walking. Just like any other kid. Then it stopped. It stopped completely and she hasn’t done it at all in 8 months.

Is that skill gone forever? Did she have a seizure that wiped it away? Did she forget how to do it? Did something scare her? Why does she lose these skills so easily?

I don’t know.

That is my universal answer when teachers and therapists ask me “Why doesn’t she do that anymore?”

I don’t know. I don’t have any idea.

I wish I did. I wish I could take a peek inside her brain and figure it out for her. I wish I could just look at her and say “Remember when you did that? Or said that? Can you do it again please?” I wish I had an answer. Something better than, “I don’t know?”

That’s not how it works though. What is the problem for her? Why does she struggle through learning simple things? Why can’t she be potty trained or pull up her pants? Why can’t she remember where her nose is consistently or say hi? Why doesn’t she tell me that she wants eggs for breakfast or tell me she wants to play with the bells? She used to do all of these things.

Why can’t she tell me that she loves me?

So many questions and so very few answers.

Is it her autism, her blindness, her developmental delay, her intellectual disability? What is it?

No one can tell me because they all overlap.

No one has any answers, but everyone asks me. Because I’m her mom. I should know. At least, I feel like I should know.

I’ve never known the most profound sense of helplessness since meeting my baby girl. I’ve never felt so out of control on all things that feel like they need to be controlled.

I’m her mom. I should know what’s going on with her.

But, I don’t. I never have.

I’ve read a few other blog posts written by moms of kids with disabilities and they talk about looking at other moms and being jealous of them and their children. I understand that. I try not to compare my daughter to anybody else’s children, mainly because I did that WAY too much in the beginning, but sometimes…I still do. Not in the uuuggghhh…I hate you because you don’t know how good you’ve got it…way. But…uuuggghhh…Look how easy it is for your kids. I just wish life wasn’t so hard for her…way. I’m jealous of other special needs kids who learn things easier than her or kids that don’t have multiple disabilities. But then I HATE myself for thinking that way because it’s ridiculous. I don’t know that life is any easier for them or any harder for my daughter. There are a lot of kids out there in way more difficult situations. These are things that just should not be compared.

I think sometimes I just want her to get better.

I look at my other two kids and it just all comes so naturally for them. They just learn. No big deal. For Oli everything is such a bigger deal. She can’t see so right there, it’s a whole new ball game trying to teach her. And then her body just doesn’t work all that well. It seems like she wants it to do things and it just doesn’t. She has low tone and poor balance. Her arms are weak. She needs a very long time mentally and in terms of motor planning just to figure out where she’s going and how she’s supposed to get there.

It just isn’t easy.

Reading these evaluations…isn’t easy.

It’s always hard to read the same evaluation year after year.

It’s hard to read “She used to do this…She used to say this…but now she doesn’t.”

It’s hard because I know she’s in there. I know what she’s capable of. I just don’t know why it comes and goes. I don’t know how to make it any better for her.

She does therapy and therapy and more therapy. She gets PT, OT, speech, vision, and O&M at school. She gets PT, OT, speech, and hippotherapy at home. I just always feel like maybe there’s more. Maybe there is that one therapy out there that we’re not doing and that will be the key that unlocks the door.

In my brain I know that it probably doesn’t exist. In my brain I know that we are doing everything.

In my heart? I want to do more.

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IN MY DREAMS, SHE FALLS OFF THE CLIFF

29 Apr

Have you ever had a dream that you wake from completely devastated, but so happy that you’ve awoken from your worst nightmare? A dream that sits way too close to reality for comfort?

I’ve had a few of them, but three of those dreams stand out profoundly. These are three that I will probably never forget. All of them involve my Oli.

The first one was the recurring dream that I told you about in the very first blog that I wrote for my story. The dream that I was going blind. You can read it HERE. I’ve never had that dream again since Oli was born.

The second dream/nightmare happened after Oli had her first big seizure and we almost lost her. I must have had some kind of post-traumatic stress. I dreamed that she died that afternoon.

A van pulled up to my childhood home with my daughter’s body lying inside it. I met the driver of the van at the end of the driveway. I already knew that she was gone. The driver dipped his head in the sun, casting a dark shadow across his sorrow filled eyes. Then he walked around to the back and opened the hatch. When he turned around again he had a little bundle wrapped in a brown blanket in his arms. I couldn’t see any part of her. Except for her feet. They were lying across his forearm. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her feet. She was holding them in a certain sweet way, so delicate and petite, crossed at the ankles. He handed her to me and I carried her wrapped in the blanket over to the shade of a tree and laid her quiet body beneath it. And then I just sat there. I sat there staring at her beautiful little feet. My heart broke into a million little pieces. How could she be gone?

I woke up from that dream gasping for breath, feeling the happiness and life being squeezed right out of me. I ran to the other room and sat on Oli’s bed. I sat there and stared at her chest, rising and falling with life. I rubbed her feet beneath the blankets until they wiggled and pulled away from my hand. I sat with her until that image of her lifeless form left my mind. But, it hasn’t left it completely. I still see those little feet lying motionless in the grass. I still vividly remember that dream.

It terrifies me.

The third dream I had last night.

I had a dream that I wasn’t her mother. I was her nanny and I was moving. I was moving very very far away from her and I wasn’t going to be able to see her again. It was so strange because in my dream I was looking at Oli through someone else’s eyes. Not my own. I saw her as other people must see her. She wasn’t my child, but I felt fiercely protective of her and completely torn apart at the thought of not watching her grow up.

She was sitting in a chair as I was saying good bye. Her curly hair was blowing in a breeze coming in through an open window. Her lips quivered in sadness. Her little eyes were filled with tears. She knew I was leaving.

I said, “Oh Oli. How am I ever going to live without you? I don’t want to go away. I want to stay with you forever. How am I going to survive?”

She wrapped her arms around my neck and nuzzled her face into the crook of my collarbone. Just like always. And then we said good bye. I cried and sobbed and screamed her name.

“Oli! Oli! No! Please! I can’t leave her! Don’t make me leave her!” The anguish washed a red tide over my heart and wiped all happiness away.

And then I woke up.

I woke up and my Oli was still sleeping safely in her bed. I hadn’t been taken from her. I was still her mother.

I don’t know what these dreams mean? I don’t know if other moms have these types of nightmares? Are other special needs moms terrified of losing their children? Do we all notice a visible line between life and death and are distinctly aware of keeping our children walking on this side? Do we all hover and protect, trying to keep them from falling off the edge only to have them flail beyond our control off of the cliff in our dreams?
I’ve never had dreams like these that involved my other children. They’ve never died or been taken away from me.

With Oli… I have. I still do.

I’m probably just terrified of losing her. Sometimes her life seems so fragile compared to everyone else’s. She seems so much more breakable. I imagine a lifetime of loving her and laughing with her, but I know that there is no guarantee. There is no guarantee with anyone, but with her it just seems so much more real.

Sometimes I just can’t seem to help being petrified that I’m going to lose her. I don’t want to lose her.

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Chasing Rainbows and Running from Bombs

16 Apr

I’ve been thinking about writing this post since I heard about Gavin’s (Chasing Rainbows)death. He was 5 1/2 years old. He was a special needs child with special gifts and special parents and a special brother. If you haven’t read his mom’s blog yet or visited her facebook page, please do. You will be changed forever.

I’m sure I’m like most parents of special needs kids when hearing that one of our family has passed. I think, “What if that was my Oli? What if it was me taking pictures of my sweet girl as they wheeled her down the hall for the last time? What it was me giving her a bath and a kiss for the very last time?”

And then I sob and I cry and my heart breaks for this mother all over again.

I like to think of them as family because we are all in this together. Gathering inspiration and support, raising awareness about differences and forging our way trying to make an impact and an impression on the world that our kids are just like everyone’s else’s kids. Just a little bit different in more obvious ways.

I think that Gavin and his parents did that in his few short years on this Earth. He did the impossible. He made a difference. And he did it with his life and his death. His mother and father also achieved a rarely attained goal. They have changed the world.. They have changed the world by sharing their story with us. Sharing their heart ache and their pain. Sharing their courage and strength with honest words and tear stained faces. They have taken an unimaginable, horribly sad event and maintained dignity and grace while the earth shakes beneath their feet. They have made selfless choices and decided that despite their grief and darkness they have chosen to give another family light. They tried to donate Gavin’s organs.

This was not to be however.

Part of his liver was unusable so it rendered the entire organ unusable. His corneas were not able to be transplanted either. Rather than be shattered by this one positive that his family was clinging to, his mother maintained her poise and managed to never lose sight of what life is really all about.

Living life on life’s terms.

She talks about giving gifts and expecting nothing in return. Because that’s what a gift really is. And if it doesn’t work out? Then it doesn’t work out. They tried. I will stop there because I REALLY encourage you to visit her blog and read her story. Like I said…it will change you.

So I’ve been thinking about this family. Gavin, his mother Kate, his dad Ed and his brother Brian. This family that I have never met, never spoken to, never “met” on facebook or on her blog. I know nothing about them other than what I have read and what others have posted about them. I don’t know them and yet I’ve been praying for this little boy whose pictures I can’t stop looking at and whose sweet little face that I can’t seem to get out of my head. And then I ask the obvious question.

Why?

Why do these things happen? Why did such a small, defenseless, amazing little boy have to lose his battle so early on. Why? He has touched so many people. He has given so many people strength and courage and taught others to continue on in the face of difficult situations, in spite of labels and disabilities and the unknown. He just continued on. He lived and he loved just like so many other little 5 year old boys. Except that he wasn’t. He was Gavin. And for some reason people were drawn to this little guy and his story. They were drawn to the way that he lived his life.

Just like people are drawn to my Oli.

I don’t know why these things happen. I don’t know why people are drawn to these little people who never even utter a word. I think it’s because of what I stated above. It’s because of the way that they live their lives. Just like my Oli, Gavin showed courage in fearful situations and strength where others would be weak. He celebrated accomplishments with the ferocity of an Olympic athlete. Because life is not always easy for our kids, but they carry on. The carry on despite slow progress and others telling them what they can and cannot do. They carry on and thrive and progress and amaze people every day. They reward us and surprise us every single day. They make possible the impossible.

And I don’t know why Gavin had to die. But I do know that although he is gone, he will NEVER be forgotten. I know that people all over the world are fulfilling his mothers wish for random acts of kindness in Gavin’s name. I know that he had a purpose and his purpose is to continue to be an inspiration. Continue to be that light in the darkness.

Little Gavin lost his life yesterday and then the bombings at the Boston Marathon happened. Another little boy died. A little boy who also has a name. His name was Richard and he was only 8 years old. I thought, “I wonder if this family has seen this? I wonder if they know that another little boy died today?” And I can’t make sense of that either? I can’t make sense of the fact that Gavin got sick and died, but Richard wasn’t sick at all. He didn’t get an infection or have cancer. He didn’t get into a car accident or anything else. His life was taken. Taken, on purpose, by another human being.

How do you go on after that? I cannot imagine either one happening, but the rage and the anger that I would feel if someone else stole my child from me…would never be forgotten. How do you see the positive in that? How do you get to the light?

I don’t know. I’m sure that Richard’s family knows though. I’m sure that he touched the world in his own way. I hope that we learn more about this little guy in the days to come. Because I need to know that a life was not lost without purpose. I need to know that this child will be remembered and that people will not forget what we lost yesterday.

I don’t know who would do such a thing. I’m not even going to venture a guess. It has happened and they will catch who is responsible for it. That…I am sure of. Rather that feed more hate with hate, can we remember the people who lost their lives yesterday? Richard in Boston and little Gavin. Can we keep them in our hearts and heal without spewing more violence?

I’m not saying not to be angry. Of course not. But, can we remember what really matters? Can we remember the kids and the friends, and the moms and dads, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, who will never see their loved one again. Can we honor their memory and be kind to one another? Can we stop the hatred and stop reacting with fear? Maybe just for a day. Do something nice for someone else. Do something in Gavin’s name. Do something with love rather than hate. How many times are we angry with someone and cannot WAIT to give them a piece of our mind? How many times do we take that same fire in our hearts and tell someone else that we love them, or appreciate them? How many times do we close our mouths to keep the vicious words from pouring forth? How many times do we open our hears and allow others to see our vulnerability. How many times do people see our love?

Never did words ring truer to me “Be the change that you want to see in the world.”

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Mombot Commands

9 Apr

I feel like I’m some kind of mombot running around performing preprogrammed tasks on autopilot and spewing out prerecorded commands to my husband and children. These mombot sentences can be heard several times throughout an average day in my house. I say them so often that they come out in a monotoned, digitalized voice that echo one after another.

Sometimes my recordings have a skip in them and I don’t even realized that I’ve repeated the same sentence 3 times in a row.

” Stop. Picking. Your. Nose. Stop. Picking. Your. Nose. St-st-st-o-o-o-p…P-P-P-Picking. Your. Nose…What’s. That. Smell. What’s. That. Smell. Wh-Wh-What’s. That. Smell…”

And I wonder why my children tune me out?

Here are the top 20 commands and questions that are programmed to loop throughout my day.

1. What’s that smell?
2. Stop picking your nose.
3. Go potty.
4. Eat your dinner.
5. Stop whining.
6. Stop fighting.
7. Stop yelling.
8. What’s that smell? 🙂
9. Is that poop?
10. Is that a booger?
11. Why are you crying?
12. Don’t put that in your mouth.
13. Don’t put that up your nose.
14. Go to bed.
15. Stay in your bed.
16. Go back to bed.
17. No, we can’t buy that.
18. Put your toys away.
19. I love you.
20. Did you fart?

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A letter to someone I love

8 Apr

Dear friend,

I have known you for what seems like forever. We grew up together, raced cars across my kitchen floor, played in my dads’ old flat-bottomed boat parked alongside my house and rode our bikes far past the mail boxes where we were forbidden to go. You watched me dance and swim. I watched you wrestle and play T-ball. You watched me struggle through my first back surgery in middle school and saw me cry when kids made fun of me. I watched you struggle through elementary school and saw you cry when kids made fun of you because you were just so incredibly smart and misunderstood. You watched me drive away to college and I watched your face dip in the sunlight. I saw your loneliness play shadows across your face as you watched your closest friend and constant ally drive off.

After that afternoon, things changed didn’t they? I was no longer there to protect you and you were no longer there to comfort me. We had been separated by miles and miles of fields and desert. I made new friends. I didn’t call you. I never forgot about you, but I forgot how much you were like me. I forgot how much we needed each other. I forgot about our summer walks and our midnight secretes when I came home to visit. I forgot to call you when the summer ended and I forgot to continue our friendship during the long winter months.

How could I forget?

Things got hard for you at home. Your parents divorced and you got lost in the shuffle. You were left to fend for yourself and grew up too quickly. You didn’t have me there to try to console you or set an example on how to cope with such a loss and a change. You didn’t have me there to try to help you.

I just wasn’t there was I?

You moved out on your own at 16 years old. You started drinking and making bad decisions. You got into trouble. You didn’t know how to live life yet. You were just a kid. I was an adult by that time. I should have been there to help lead you through the maze and the mess that had sprung up around you. I should have called. I should have told you that no matter how far away I was, I was always there for you. I thought you knew, but I should have told you.

I should have…

Still more years pass and things get even worse for you. I get late night drunk calls where you don’t know where you are and don’t know how you got there. You get beat up multiple times and wreck your cars. You are spiraling out of control. I want to help, but I don’t know how? I want to save you, but it begins to feel like you are beyond saving. Or maybe I just don’t want to deal with you anymore. Maybe I think that you are old enough now and should know better.

I was heartless wasn’t I?

Because the truth is…no one is beyond saving. No one deserves to just have people turn their backs on them. You didn’t deserve that, but that’s what I did.

And now things are better. You don’t drink as much, but you still drink too much. Now you don’t get into trouble, but you sit at home. Alone. You sit in your apartment with your loneliness and I sit in mine with my guilt. We don’t talk about it much do we? We don’t talk about those common traits that run through our veins.

I now find myself in a position to want to help you again. I want to help you, but you’re not that young kid anymore. You’re a man. A man who doesn’t really want to be helped. I have to respect that.

But here’s what I want to tell you if I could, or rather, what I will tell you when the time is right. I’m writing it now because I don’t want to overstep my bounds and you may or may not read this post. I hope that you do read it though. And if you do…well…we can talk about it. Or, if you don’t want to, you can just pretend like you never read it.

I have to say something because I hear too many stories of people saying nothing and then regretting it later when the unimaginable happens.

Life can be better friend. Life can be so much better.

You deserve the best. You deserve to be happy. You are an amazing person. One of the best and brightest that I have ever known. You don’t have to sit in your loneliness anymore. You don’t have to sit in unhappiness. There is a life waiting for you out there that you’ve never even imagined. You are a good person. You are a person capable of loving and being loved. You mean the world to me and I don’t want to spend another minute sitting in guilt over this and wondering what I should have done. I have done that enough.

I have been there. I have felt those feelings and wondered where the bottom was. After Oli was born I thought that I would never smile, laugh, or love the same again. But, I did. I did. And so can you. It just takes looking at everything from a different perspective. It takes not always trusting what goes on in your head as the truth. Sometimes our own minds are our biggest deceivers. Our biggest enemy lies inside us. It doesn’t have to stay that way. You can change it. But you must be willing to step outside what feels comfortable. You must be willing to do something different. It’s not always fun at first, but I promise you. It is worth it.

I love you.

You are worth it.

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This card pisses me off!

3 Apr
This little boy is in a wheelchair, but the bottom part of the picture got cut off.

This little boy is in a wheelchair, but the bottom part of the picture got cut off.

This post has been brewing for a while. I had to write a little something about this card, or cartoon, or blasphemy, whatever you want to call it. Let me just tell you, this picture PISSES ME OFF!

Aaahhhh! (Imagine me yelling at my computer screen) <—This is my frustration with this gem every time I see it float past my news feed on Facebook. And I have seen several versions of this one. I can't take it anymore! I can't keep my mouth closed any longer or I will start banging my head against the computer screen, rendering myself completely incapable of complaining about random things that are annoying me.

Really?

Your ONLY special need is to be loved?

Ummmm… no.

NO!!

No it’s not!

I’ll tell you why it makes me so mad.

It completely and totally minimizes all that MY special needs child has to go through to live in this world. My blind daughter who has to navigate around in the dark in a sighted world. My non-verbal child who has to try to be understood silently in a world full of language, subtle communication, and written words. My daughter has to survive and thrive in a world that doesn’t always understand or like people who are different. People who don’t have time for, or an understanding of, or compassion, or empathy, or a sense of humor, or many more things that are needed to understand, love, and appreciate a person with autism and other SPECIAL NEEDS.

It completely and totally minimizes all that WE have to go through as special needs parents. Her only special need is NOT just to be loved. It’s a whole hell of a lot more. All children need love. That one’s easy as a parent. I always love my kids. I may not like them very much sometimes (that’s a whole different post), but I ALWAYS love them.

She has specific special needs.

That’s why we call them special needs kids. Otherwise we would call them regular needs kids right? Or normal? No. Not normal. That’s a setting on the dryer. Vanilla? Plain? Average? Non special needs? Neuro typical? What? Kids. I have my kids. 3 of them. Or 3 children and one of them has special needs.

She has many more special needs other than just to be loved.

She has seizures, she takes a bunch of medicine, she doesn’t walk very well, she needs a walker at school, a walking wand, my hand. She’s not potty trained yet, she doesn’t talk, she can’t see, she has epic meltdowns, she doesn’t sleep well, she has stomach issues, she has to eat special food, she needs special therapies, special equipment, special people in her life who appreciate all that she CAN do and all that she is CAPABLE of doing in the future. She has enough doctors, teachers, specialists, therapists…ect., to populate a small country. Sometimes I feel like I am running my own country. I am a dictator here in Oliland.

This minimizes all of the people in her life who work so hard for her. If we just said “Oh. Her only special need is to be loved? Great. Job accomplished. Pass me an award. We did that in our first 5 minutes with her.”

It’s so much more than that!

It’s okay to acknowledge that our kids are different. That they need different ways to help them learn and live and love and grow to be amazing people.

And it REALLY pisses me off that they use the word only in front of the word special needs. Don’t even get me started on that one.

Only? Only!!

NO. Wrong.

You are NEVER allowed to use the word only and special need in the same sentence.

Never.
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Why Do Our Children Do This To Us?

30 Mar

1. This: When you return home from grocery shopping and have your arms full of grocery bags, the onslaught of requests will begin. BEFORE your shoes are off and the bags are set down. “Can you get me juice? I need a snack. I’m STARVING! Can you wipe me? Here mommy. Take my booger.”

2. And This: When you wear a black shirt to hide the stains from sticky, nasty kid hand smears, someone will throw up on you. You just can’t hide that. No matter what color you’re wearing.

3. Never This: When you wear a white shirt. . . Lol! No sane stay at home mom with little kids ever wears white!

4. And This: You’ll find yourself arguing with a 3 year old about things like why she can’t put picked boogers back into her nose. “But mommy! You told me not to pick my nose! I’m not picking the boogers! I’m putting them back in!”

5. What About This: As soon as you drift off to sleep. . .finally. You will hear a little voice in your ear. “Mommy. Are you awake? I’m scared. Can I sleep with you?”

6. Yeah This: There is no sleeping WITH you. That would imply that both of you are sleeping. They are sleeping BESIDE you. With their feet in your face and their butt poked into your stomach.

7. Always This: You will wash their favorite sheets, get them put nicely on their bed, put them to sleep. . . and they will pee. They will pee the bed every. single. time. And then demand that you wash them again immediately. Because those are their favorite ones.

8. And This: You’re planning on going out somewhere. You make your kid go to the bathroom 5 minutes before you leave. And then you make them go again 1 minute before you leave. You arrive at the store or restaurant or park which is literally 3 minutes away from your house. As soon as they step out of the car, “Mom. I have to go potty! Now! It’s an emergency!” What? Didn’t we just do this? It doesn’t matter. You can try restricting liquids for hours before leaving the house. They won’t pee for DAYS at home. As soon as you are out in public. . .Whoosh! Open up the faucets. Let the pee fest begin.

9. Seriously! Wth? This: The phone. The PHONE!! Why must they torture us while we are on the phone? My children will ignore me for hours. “Go do your homework.” Nothin’. “Stop fighting with your sister.” Nothin’. “Clean your room.” Silence. The phone rings and suddenly I’m the most popular person ever. “Mommy. Oh mommy. I HAVE to tell you a story. Yesterday at school Johnny had a red pencil but really wanted a blue one so he was sad and did you know that one time when I was 4 it snowed and do you remember that you didn’t let me go out and play in it and I’m still really mad at you and I have to poop so I need you to stay right here because I may need help wiping and keep listening because I still have soooo much to tell you and. . . .” Aaggghhh!!!! Where are their mute buttons?

10. Finally This: When you’re sick they will do all of these horrible things plus a thousand more.

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They wouldn’t let me adopt a puppy, but they gave me a baby?

24 Mar

This whole pregnancy, motherhood, taking a baby home, and child rearing situation in our society is whacked!!

Did you know that when I was in college I wanted to adopt a puppy?

Yep.

I lived in a little duplex with a few girls and I wanted to adopt a Boxer puppy from the local Boxer rescue society.

You know what they told me?

No.

Nope. No way in hell we are letting this young college girl, with no yard, a small house, who is not home all day long, adopt one of our cute, precious little puppies. No way lady!! Come back when you graduate, are more responsible, have 3,000 square feet of living space and at least a yard big enough for the dog to take a proper dump in.

They grilled me like they were from the FBI and I was on their Top 10 Most Likely Not To Take Proper Care Of A Puppy List. They wanted to make a home visit. I had to answer a bunch of questions. I thought they were going to ask me for a urine sample and then hook me up to a lie detector.

After I failed and they deemed me unworthy of caring for one of their dogs, I was kind of relieved. I mean, who can handle that kind of pressure? I was too scared and they intimidated me so much that I became convinced that I could not care for their puppy. Maybe there was so much more that goes into the proper raising of a good, respectable, descent, loving, nice puppy that I had not considered. Maybe I would mess it up and it would turn into a Beggin’ Strips addicted, too lazy to fetch, dumb, can’t even walk on a leash, toy stealing, co-dependent dog that I would be ashamed to take to the dog park.

People at the dog park would look at my dog and then think “Well that dogs owner clearly should never have had a dog. Look at him! Sniffing my dogs butt like that. He didn’t even ask if he could play with Fluffy’s ball! He just took it and ran away! Where is his owner? Oh, there she is. Of course. Young. She probably isn’t even home all day to train him properly. She probably just gives him treats when ever he wants and never taught him to sit. Look at her. On her phone, of course. She’s probably wasting time of facebook. She doesn’t care about him. What kind of people gave her a dog? Didn’t they do a background check? Did they even visit her home and make sure that she was capable of taking care of a dog? Obviously not. People like THAT just should not have dogs. Hmph…”

You know what they told me when I gave birth to a baby?

Okay! Time to take him home!

What? Don’t you need to check my pee? Make sure that I’m not hopped up on crack? Where’s the lie detector? I didn’t really weigh what I told you I weighed before I got pregnant. I lied. If I lied about that maybe I lied about more. What if I don’t have a big enough house for a baby? You should know that I don’t have a yard. Nope. No yard. Apartment liver here. Isn’t there some sort of rule that you can’t live in an apartment if you have a baby? Don’t you need to make a home visit? Make sure that I baby proofed it correctly. My husband put together most of the baby furniture, but I did try to help him and put some together myself. You may need to come check it out. I’m not so good with directions. It’s entirely possible that the whole crib will just come crashing down one day. Don’t you want to know what brand of baby formula I intend to feed him? What if I choose a cheap, off brand? Surely you wouldn’t let me take him home if I just choose any old formula and didn’t research it. What about clothes? He’s a boy. What if I choose to dress him like a girl because I’m weird? How do you know I won’t make him wear outfits full of teddy bears and give him a complex later? What if I choose to put a blanket over him at night? What if I let him sleep on his tummy? What if I put him in a Bumbo seat on the table and then leave to go to the bathroom? What if I have no money in savings? What if I never even thought about where the money for his college will come from?

No one is interested in learning these things before you let me take him home? What if I mess him up so badly that if I do end up saving enough money for college he has to spend all of it on therapy?

The ONLY thing I had to have to take my son out of that hospital was an outfit and a car seat. And the outfit was optional.

No one asked me ANY questions. I begged the lactation consultant to come to my house to make sure that I was doing it right. I called my mom hundreds of times in tears certain that I was doing it wrong. I called my husband even more in tears because my baby was nothing like the babies that I had taken care of in the NICU. He did NOT sleep for 3 hours and then wake to be fed. He wanted to eat every 1-2 hours which totally threw me for a loop. He was not supposed to eat that often. Didn’t he know the schedule? We were on a schedule here! He wasn’t supposed to want to nurse for 45 minutes. 30 minutes was the maximum he was allowed. That was how long his lunch break was. He quickly informed me that he did not agree with this allotment of time. Our whole first month was me trying to set rules and schedules and him crying and breaking every rule. He never followed my schedule.

He cried, I cried, and my husband laughed.

“Relax. Relax. He’s going to be fine. You need to just calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. Don’t tell me to relax. You don’t understand. Just because you’ve had a baby before doesn’t make you the expert.” I was ready to rip his head off when he mentioned my step daughter’s name.

Didn’t he understand what a big deal this was? Didn’t he know that in the past I was unqualified to care for a puppy? I never told him about that. I was afraid that he wouldn’t want to have babies with me. “Well, I can’t have babies with HER. They wouldn’t even give her a puppy She would mess our kid up FOR SURE!”

Yep.

Our society is whacked.

NO PUPPIES FOR YOU!

But we are handing babies out to every neurotic, crazy, young, under qualified, terrified new mother on the block.

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