Spring Break Aftermath

I needed this Spring Break. I normally need Spring Break but this time I REALLY NEEDED Spring Break. My program has been intense and all-consuming. I am gone from my home 11 hours of the day either commuting or attending school. Insert the first sentence again. So here comes Spring Break. My computer dies (my lovely husband sold some things to buy me a new one, bless his heart), therefore no homework got done. I did clean my room because I have not actually "cleaned" it (I have picked up clothing) since December. I took Josh to 3 therapy appointments. (It has been almost 2 months since I have taken him to therapy. Here I am a future OT and I can't take my own son to therapy? I suck. Oh and the whole gone 11 hours of the day thing doesn't help) I also got my hair done. This was an adventure because my wonderful hairdresser has been busy and she couldn't fit me in that week, so I decided to try someone new. I called the beauty school (feeling daring) and asked for a hairdresser who could cut a funky do. They referred me to Javier. While sitting in Javier's chair, I realized something. Although he does most of the men's cuts and does all those fun designs in their hair, he does not cut women's hair...ever. And when I say ever, I mean EVER. He was clueless the poor thing. He had no idea how to start it, no idea how to translate the picture I brought in, and no idea how to style hair afterwards. On the plus side, he gives a mean shampoo. He had me there for probably 10 minutes. At some point I am pretty sure he was just giving me a head massage in the hopes that he would never have to actually CUT my hair. After sitting in his chair for 4 hours, and looking at my somewhat odd cut, I left. I couldn't sit there any more. Luckily, Jeremy used to cut his companion's hair on the mish so I had him whack off about an inch on both sides where it looked like I had weird puppy ears and, "Wha-la!" Not too shabby! Then Melissa dyed the blonde purple and, "Sha-bam!" I like it! It was an experience but I am not sure one I want to replicate. I also tried to exercise during the break. Not that this will do me any good because now that I am back in school, I will not break a sweat until May. But still, I try. So the other day Josh came home from school and told me (with his ipad) what he did in school. (Side note: This is one thing I have been so excited about. I have never been able to hear about my son's day unless I spent it with him. We play the guessing game when he gets home; "Did you do this? What about this?" etc. Now for the first time, his teachers input what he did in class and he can come home and tell me) "Today I taught my friends how to do a sit up." I died laughing. You see, when I am out of school and get on these exercise kicks, I know Josh notices because he starts acting really oddly (well, more oddly). We will be doing something and it doesn't matter where we are, who is with us, or what we are doing, he will suddenly drop to the floor and start frantically doing sit ups. Makes me wonder what I must look like to him. Anyway, I am back at school *sigh* and busier than ever. Sadly, Spring Break has left me slower, dumber, and less motivated than before. One more month and I get my Bachelors!! HOORAY! *cheering* It is about time. My old butt should have this by now. One small step for Katie, one giant leap towards my goal. One month. I can make it. Then 2 more years to go....

Yodeling

You know that song, "An Austrian went yodeling"? You know, "on a mountain so high, when along came a..." that song? Anyway, as a ploy to force Josh to try to make purposeful noises (his speech apraxia makes it hard to create the sounds he wants to make)and to do it in a fun "non therapy" way I made up a new version of this song and it continues to be one of Josh's favorites. We sing it in the car just about anytime we drive anywhere. "Well a Joshie went yodeling on a mountain so high. When along came a ________ interrupting his cry. Yode-lay, yodela-he-he, yoda-lay-he-who (insert proper sound) *repeat the yodel part two more times* I try to incorporate things he is interested in and any new sounds I have heard him say. His favorites: Zombie (groans) Ninja (Hy-ya!) Marine (hoo-wa!) Pirate (ARGH!) This is just one of my ridiculous songs I have created as a therapy method for Josh. It joins, "Put the lotion on your _________ and rub it in" (I know, it is reminiscent of the silence of the lambs guy) and "The laws of the road" song and many others. If anyone is interested we can make a Mom band and make CDs and tour the world. We could be so hard core.

Joshua 5.5

My sweet little Josh is already 5 1/2. I can't believe it! He LOVES superheroes. Every weekend he insists on dressing up like Batman, or some sort of Batman hybrid (Batman Buzz, Batman Thor, Batman Superman, or Batman Wolverine or even a tri-fecta of these characters). He wears this get up all day long. He wears it to go to the store, to pizza night, to clean the house, EVERYWHERE. When we go out to stores he gets all sorts of comments. It is amazing how many little kids say things like, "Look Mom! Spiderman!"....uh....apparently your child is not as nuts about superheroes as mine. Josh loves it though, he spends the whole time jumping and leaping as he does karate moves down the aisles. I have to try to keep the kill-shot shrieks to a minimum but there is no shortage of growls and "hi-ya"s. He sees all the other shoppers as potential targets/threats/possible allies. Sometimes an adult will play along, "Holy cow! There's Batman!" (to which he beams) or they may pretend to fight him for a minute. Some old ladies pretend to be afraid...or they really are...it is hard to tell. Interestingly, I have not had one person tell me to "keep him in line" or anything even close to that. This is weird because when he is not dressed up and makes similar types of noises, old people try to calm him down. Old people. They are so strange. If Josh gets in trouble at a store he has to sit in the cart. This makes him furious and he will scream his anger to the world. Old people just can't take it, and they have two distinct ways of showing this. The "stern way": they approach my son and scold him for me, "You can't yell like that in a store!" "You are hurting my ears!" "Stop that yelling". Or the "nice way": "Hello there little boy!" "Why are you so upset?" or they make a silly face or pull a funny trick or offer him candy. His reaction? Screaming directly into their faces and possibly clenching his fists with a crazy "can't you see I'm about to throw some punches" face. Now I am sure you see my dilemma. Yes I am out in public, yes screaming is not really an acceptable public act, but my child cannot verbalize how he feels any other way. Besides, I can only get out to the store about once a week so there is almost no way I am abandoning my quest. So I let him scream. After he has gotten it out, I can redirect him...usually. But I have to stick to my guns. If he misbehaves, he goes in the cart, sorry old people, I know this thoroughly maddens you. I know you are old and have raised 5 billion kids but you haven't raised my kid. But back to the original topic. He will spend the ride home shooting his toy gun or swinging his toy sword/Thor hammer at fellow travelers and screaming. I have had to convince him to leave the weapons in the car because if he is that crazy without them...well, you can imagine the mayhem. Come to think of it, he gets in less trouble when he is wearing his costumes in the store because people find his craziness cute, that and when he starts to get too far away I have him come back to "protect me" which he loves. Of course this brings on a new round of shadow boxing with the people closest to me. I don't know how long people will find this cute (a year? Two?) I don't really care. He can go to the store as a superhero for as long as he wants.

Better Together

When we were dating, I told Tyler that I had never had a "song" before. A few days later he told me he wanted me to hear something. He played me a song I don't think I had ever heard before. To this day I think he couldn't have made a better choice: Better Together by Jack Johnson.


"It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together"

In 6 years we have been through...well, we have been through so much. So much. And every time something goes wrong, I can't help but think, "It's always better when we're together". I don't know how I would have made it through everything with my son and school without my wonderful Tyler. He is my rock, my safe place. I know no matter what, he will be there and help me through. I don't have to be someone else, he loves me even though he knows me better than anyone else.

For our 6th anniversary, we spent the weekend in SLC....sick. We both ended up getting the flu (not the stomach kind thank goodness). We spent most of the weekend in pain (for sicker eh?) and you know what? It was still a good time. There is no one I would rather be sick with. I love that man.

It really is always better when we are together.

People are basically good

If you didn't know, we have had a really tough time getting Josh a communication device. The end result has been a lot of anger, frustration, and right now all we can get is an ipad with an app (only because no one can stop us from buying it)

Luckily, or perhaps not as much luck but because of wonderful people, Josh had an ipad donated by Christmas Tree Jubilee. I had many concerned friends and even acquaintances who gave advice on cases to best protect it. The winner:

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/en_US/images/abn/2011/com/pcon/survivor/survivor2.swf

Pretty amazing stuff if you ask me. Besides, Tyler's aunt and uncle bought it for us. So now just the app! The one we are looking at is almost $200. My visiting teacher came over this morning with $100 from some friends in the ward to go toward the app. Because of these wonderful people, my son will get in 2 weeks what the insurance couldn't get for him for months if at all.

I can't wait to tell you guys about how much he loves it. I am so excited that he will have a voice. Not with the help of therapists and insurance companies but because of everyday people who want to help a little boy.

Christmas pictures, better late than never.

....And I seem to be having trouble with this so you get pictures with no captions! They are rather self explanatory anyway.

Zach Anner

So I was browsing other people's blogs today when I came across one for Zach Anner, a contestant on Oprah's-something-or-other to win a TV show. Sadly, I have been unable to keep up with Oprah since going back to school so although I had seen him once before, it was too late to vote for him. I began to watch all of his stuff online which you can watch here http://www.youtube.com/user/ZachAnner (for some reason I can't make it a link)

He is hilarious, handsome, and wonderful. If you have time, you need to watch his stuff. And not just the Oprah stuff, the Austin stuff is great too.

I only wish he was still posting things. I think it is important for the world to understand that a person is a person, no matter how different. One of the moms whose blog I follow said this about her son, "His personality is not disabled". And I find that so true. When people take the time to get to know my son they say something to the effect of, Wow! He is so amazing. I can't believe he has cerebral palsy. I would have never known! Well, hello, the signs are all there. The problem is how we all think of what disabilities "look like" and what a person "is" when they have a disability.

I love this guy. I think you will too.