After working the night shift last night, I woke up so tired, but with a lot of good reports from school.  I had emails, voicemails and pictures to back up his day.  I was so thankful that Carsen had such a wonderful day at school and daycare.   After his IEP meeting 2 weeks ago, his teachers, Matt and I came up with a pretty good plan for him.  My favorite plan.  Carsen runs errands in school.  We are trying to find a motivating task for him to ambulate around school more effectively.  Last week his errand was to walk from his classroom to Cork Loge's office and get post-it notes.  He is required to ask for it by a button that is pre-recorded, then walk back to his classroom.  I just love the fact that he is learning to have purposeful tasks AND getting more walking time in.   Walking time always makes my heart content.  Can't explain it any other way.

Carsen uses a switch board to learn cause and effect.  He is very good at using the button.  After using the button for some time now, he is learning that the button will make something move, make noise or light up.  Today, he hit the green switch 11 times to make the music turn on, after it shuts off.  Cool huh?

Another favorite plan in action is the lovely IPAD.  He responded very well to this and it learning to use gentle touches to make bubbles and animals do what he wants.

I am so thankful to Carsen's speech therapist, Rhonda Lair, for believing in him.  Also, for sending pictures to me so that I felt apart of his therapy at school.  I have felt very left out of his life now that he has started school and full time daycare.  So, it helps to see what he is up to.  I miss him dearly and wish that I was the one doing therapy with him.  I can only think how lucky those teacher's/therapist 's are to spend time with him!  They are busy with many children and are making such an effort to do what is best for Carsen.

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On another thought for tonight....

My hubby is in bed early with a sore throat and nyquil on board so I ruled the TV tonight!  Yay!  Doesn't happen often.  As I sit here paying bills, entering Thirty-one orders, cleaning and occasionally checking a travel website, I turn to look up half way through this commercial and immediatly have large tears streaming down my face.  Tears of hope.

http://www.curepity.org/  Click on Meet Elijah.

I feel blessed to see a sneak peak into other boy's lives.  That we are not alone.  Somehow so comforting. 

As we approach Thanksgiving this week, I am thankful for a good day at school/daycare, a happy 3 year old, my family, Matt's family, my parents good health, and a forgiving God.

Teacher's

I am surrounded by a lot of teacher's lately.  As a nurse we educate our patient's about their health concerns, diagnosis, and plan for their treatment.  It is rewarding.  Although, it probably isn't one of my favorite aspects of being a nurse.  That is why I am glad there are so many amazing teachers.  With any career, there are those who are lazy, crabby, or unhappy.  But, the ones that I notice are those that put in that extra effort, just because they care.  Since my sister has had her little guy, I have paid more attention to her career.  I am so exhaused after I get off the phone with her.  There are no complaints on her end, just explanations of her day.  I even feel nauseated at times thinking about how early she gets up and how late she gets to bed.  We are talking about a lady who really requires 11 hours of sleep and is not getting near that.  Like most mom's, we do whatever it takes to provide and spend that extra time at home with our kids. 

This past week Katie taught her Kindergarten class a very valuable lesson: treating kids with special needs the way they would want to be treated.  She explained Carsen's life and how hard he works to do simple tasks.  They were full of questions and ideas of how to help him.  The next day we visited the class room so that they could see Carsen in his walker.  It was so special to see the kids faces when they saw Carsen.  They were not scared or intimidated.  They were happy, hopeful and full of love! 

 Carsen enjoyed playing with the kids!  He blended in just perfectly!

 The kids were so thoughtful and drew pictures for Carsen.  One the the drawings I am holding has a picture of Carsen walking in his red walker...so detailed!  Such smart kids!

 My heart melted when I was able to meet this special guy!

 Carsen's favorite part....leaving the school!  Because he gets to run!!

 Finally he gets to meet an amazing mom who has four beautiful children.  It was fun to meet someone who loves to read my blog and keep up on what Carsen is doing!  So, glad she got to meet him in person!

I feel so blessed that life is easier for children with special needs than it was when I was growing up.  It makes my job as a caregiver much easier!  Thank goodness for those teachers, mothers, friends or family that educate on what life is like for a child with special needs and how important it is to be kind and to include them in every aspect of our life!

Thank You Katie for teaching your kids what life is like for so many kids and parents.  It is a valuable lesson that not everyone can teach.  Those kids adore you and respect your lessons.  Thank you for being an advocate for us and so many children around you!!  Love you lots!

PJ's

Now that it is dark out by 6:00 P.M., Carsen is in his PJ's by that time.  One of my favorite articles of clothing to buy Carsen are cute pajamas.  Mostly because that means it is cuddle time.  Preschool and daycare have worn him out so he is pretty exhausted most evenings.  Last night, he had a little extra energy so we just let him play.  He played under the table for a long time...

With just enough space for him to fit under the chair...

With a little help from me, he was able to get out and scoot around...chasing after my camera is usually a favorite...

I love the old man PJ's...gotta love Carter's...

We are happy together...although, I am usually wearing my PJ's too.

Thankful

I order my coconut latte, sit on the hard antique bench and wait for a friend that God has placed before me.  She sips her soda and I sip my too-hot-for-kelly latte.  We visit about things most friends don't visit about.  Words like cognitive ablility, autism, cerebral palsy, IEP, and para are passed back in forth.  Situations that only we can understand because we are living the life of raising our children with special needs.  Sometimes I get frusterated because people can't understand why some comments can feel like they are stabbing my stomach.  I don't blame others for not understanding.  How are they suppose to understand?  They arn't.  This is so much easier for me to state because I found a friend the understands how much it hurts, when it hurts and exactly what it feels like.  We are very similar in our lives.  We trust in God, we may question Him, but we trust and keeping listening.  After a long visit, I feel like I have known this mom forever.  I feel so blessed to have her support and guidance!

With Thanksgiving coming up, I am feeling very thankful for many things in my life and wanted to remember this visit.

Thankful for the awesome friends God has given me.  One of the best gifts!