Apraxia Awareness Day May 14th---Every child deserves a voice

This coming Wednesday--May 14th is the 2nd Annual Apraxia Awareness Day (blue and white are the colors).  Childhood Apraxia: Significant impairment in motor planning (trouble getting message from brain out).  For Littlefoot this means he understands everything perfectly well, knows what he wants to do and say perfectly well, but can't get the message through to his muscles.  For him this LOOKS LIKE: limited speech (probably about 12 coherent words), trouble with running/stepping, and using sign is not always an option as his body often loses the motor planning memory.   

 There is still a lot of uncertainty about statistics and prognosis.  What we do know is early intervention---and awareness is HUGE to help these kiddos get all the help they can, in addition to reducing the stigma.  We had no clue about this until our son was diagnosed this past year, and had we known more we could have had access to resources sooner.

This is Littlefoot.  His loves worms, the color blue, Buzz Lightyear, eating peanuts, bananas, and searching for airplanes in the sky. He may not be able to sing you Twinkle Little Star, but he can dance better than John Travolta back in the 70s.   He adores both his big brother and little sister, building forts out of kitchen chairs, and giving high fives. 

Now I don't mean for this blog to be based on being the mom of a kiddo with special needs---although I LOVE those blogs.  But my blog is based on life as a therapist, and as a therapist I need my own outlet and self-care to do what I do at work.  Thus, this blog today is for ME, it's my therapy.  This past week has been an emotionally draining week in many ways, and I think I have finally come full circle with accepting that Littlefoot will need some additional help to find his voice.  That help requires multiple appointments a week, multiple use of PECS/flashcards, and countless hours doing my research.  I am determined to help be his voices, to raise my other children to be understanding of kiddos with any challenges, and to help increase supports for other families in the area. 

  I also have been disappointed to find out that in our area there no support groups for parents with a child with apraxia or dyspraxia.  There are groups for families of Autism--which for awhile Apraxia was assumed to be a part of Autism--this is partly why the statistics on the disorder are vague.  But they can be separate, and in Littlefoot's case Apraxia occurs without a Spectrum Disorder.  So Please, in efforts to help all families impacted by this--wear Blue and White on Wednesday and help spread awareness.

Stay tuned because this coming Family night will be a special addition Awareness celebration!!!  Also, because the parents that blog and tape their child's progress has been so helpful to us---I am going to start posting video clips as well. 

Finnicky Eaters and Spring Sunshine

I will be posting an upcoming blog about Mother's Day later this week---so stay tuned.  This Wednesday was another wonderful family night.  We had a new dish that was delicious--to the adults.  A teeny tiny tidbit I have left out up til now is that the littles (all but baby girl) are extremely picky, my boys are basically vegetarians, and none of the littles will eat salad and or/things with sauces.  Sooooo----cheese, broccoli, crackers, and French fries are usually staples at family night.  We pick our battles, and that is one that we just don't pick on Family night. 

We might be lax on mealtimes--but that can is not  Coors for the record--
it's a Barg's Rootbeer  We're not THAT lax.

 Dinner tonight was homemade sweet/sour chicken, brown rice, and Asian salad--- followed by chocolate covered strawberries made by Buttercup's mom.  Yummo---the littles love strawberries so they were all over those--but not one touched the delicious chicken

Chicken Recipe

Dredge cut chicken in egg/corn starch and pan fry in sesame oil until lightly browned but not all the way cooked

Toss in a homemade sauce of 1cup sugar, 1/2cup vinegar, 1/2 cup ketchup---then bake at 350 for 40 more minutes. 

Add some cilantro, basil, or mandarin oranges for a new twist

Crisyp/juicy and delicious!!!!

 

Family Game

Once again, the teams somehow were made into the exact same teams as last time---"Beat the Adults" and The "Thumpers"/ the adults.  The Thumpers redeemed themselves from the Easter loss.  Tonight was Scavenger hunt relay.  We pick activities that all ages can complete. 

TASK 1--every member had to do 10 jumping jacks

TASK 2--each team had to find and bring me a live worm and eat it----JUST JOKING, no eating, but yes they had to find it.  One of the littles is terrified of worms, so Team 1 got sidetracked as Gentle Giant tormented his little brother with a wiggly worm. 

TASK 3--sing 2 full verses of Old McDonald.

Littlefoot felt it necessary to wear a bike helmet during this competition
The pressure gets REAL

Add caption

I don't know what the yellow bat is for--threat maybe?

But the thumbs downs by the Little cracks me up.

Bonfires, Bullies, and Baseball

Cinco de Mayo is swiftly approaching, and I don't typically drink mas tequila on a Monday, thus we celebrated it on Wednesday Family night this week.  (And I subbed whiskey for tequila....the Irish like to embrace Hispanic culture as well).  Plus, we had a rare 80 degree sunny day.  So I whipped up some grilled carne asada, mango salsa, and my hubs set up the bonfire.  Porch swing, sweet tea, BBQ, family, friends, and a bonfire----nothing beats it.

Here's my MANGO SALSA RECIPE.  I usually use up various things, but this is what I had for this time round:
one full ripe mango peeled
a splash of balsamic vinegar
a splash of olive oil
a splash of worcheshire
juice of one lime
1/2 of one jalepeno pepper
1 cup diced tomatoes (I used cherry this time, but you can use whatever)
1 cup cilantro
onions would be great--but my sister is weird and loses her appetite if she even smells onions
If you can make the night before--do it, it gets spicier over night.
Also goes fantastic on shrimp or fish tacos

My nephew shared with us a recent event at the high school where he was basically taunted and bullied to "fight after school".  Ugh---are we all irritated yet at all of this bullying?  I am not one to endorse violence, but I do think on some level the main way bullies back off is if they  get a bit scared.  If you act like a honey badger for a hot second, people typically won't mess with you.  My sweet nephew is a gentle giant, and I cringe at the idea of people picking on him because he rarely stands up for himself.  But not this time, no.  My sweet Gentle Giant dropped some profanity and the kids actually apologized!!! No blood drawn, no suspensions, crisis avoided.  Now, I can't in all rationality tell the kids that I see in counseling to drop a couple of F-bombs at their bullies.  Their parents would kills me!  But I can tell them to find that inner rage--and give some sort of guttural, primal, and potentially squatchy yell and say simply "back off and leave me ALONE!!!". 

We  may not be wealthy, extremely talented, or exotically gorgeous---but we know how to throw a ba-bah-coo (Cajun for BBQ).  The men pretend that they are going to the World Series of Softball (it doesn't exist for 30 something men), the kids pretend they are shirtless ninjas attacking the world of garden worms, the teenagers canoodle and laugh, and the women soak up every bit of giggle and smile around them.  Happy and Safe Cinco De Mayo Everyone---"I don't always get bullied, but when I do I call them Butt Sandwiches"---Stay Thirsty My Friends! 

Picture courtesy of Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/pin/128352658101889699/