eSpecially Ben

This weekend will be the first time I will miss a holiday with the kids. I am going away with my mom and sister to celebrate my mom turning 60. This is a photo of Ben from last year - Easter morning, dressed in his new shirt and ready to find eggs in the yard. I just hope the Easter Bunny remembers to visit our house this year...

 In September I wrote about our journey to the world of toilet training. At the point of writing the post, we were about 6 days into it. Now we are at the 6 month mark - which is cause for celebration, or at least a reason to buy some new Spidey underwear! Ben is doing fabulous at home and at school with toilet training. He is proud of himself, we are proud of ourselves and we only see progress ahead. That's not to say there are setbacks, which are usually caused by us not being on a consistent schedule with Ben.   Big Mack Button In the last months, we introduced a Big Mack button to try to help Ben communicate his toileting needs to us. Before Ben sits on his potty, he pushes the button and the recording says, "I have to go to the bathroom." Ben's school has been extremely supportive with our efforts to train Ben. At Ben's IEP meeting, the school agreed to use the same button, wording and process each time he used the bathroom. It is working! On a few o

  Ben, Logan and Sean made these bunnies last year at the YMCA. It was nice to pull them out with our Easter decorations - I'd forgotten all about them. Bunnies are made with stuffed athletic socks,and then decorated with ribbon, markers, pom-poms, googly eyes and stiff thread for the whiskers.

This weekend is the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC. When I last did the race, I walked the 6.2 miles with a few friends. That was in 1995. I have been trying to get back to this race for 15 years, but my job responsibilities interfered and then when I was not working anymore, I was pregnant, between pregnancies or just not physically able to do it. This year I made a promise to myself that I would do it. Over 38,000 people are participating, and I will be one of them. In my moment of reminiscing about the past, I found these photos from 15 years ago... I am on the far right. About 9,000 people participated in 1995. Thanks for humoring me. Just in case you are interested in the history of the race: History of the Bridge

I know my worth as a mother is closely tied to making lunch for school for my children. Ben is on a set schedule - Monday and Thursday he buys lunch in the cafeteria, all other days, he packs a lunch. We have a good system - Ben gets some variety, I get a break two days a week, but get my mothering needs met. My middle son, Logan, started full day school this year. At first he was adamant that he would not buy lunch - the whole process is intimidating and the food is a bit questionable. Since August, I have packed his lunch. And happy to do so. Two weeks ago, Logan came home and announced that he wanted to buy lunch. It was more fun and gave him more play time (still not sure what he meant by that - but in the mind of a four-year old, it made sense). So for the past two weeks, he's bought his lunch. I bit my tongue trying not to persuade him. In my head, I kept repeating that age old saying about, "If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it is yours.

Ben and his friend have known each other for a few years through seeing each other at the park. This child always makes a point of asking about Ben when he's not around or saying hello when he is.  

I am always amazed to hear about parents, in the middle of caring for a child with medical or other special needs, who are able to pull together something so wonderful like an amusement park, a signing program or raise money to cure a disease. Rather than wallow in their own issues, they find ways to reach out to others and make a difference in not just their own child's life, but many others as well. They face the challenges of life head on - helping us all gain perspective on our lives and develop confidence in what we do. This is a lovely story about a family: I Love Lucy Project . Please check it out. This is also a link to a "sneak peak" from their book, "A Mother's Book of Secrets."