eSpecially Ben

This is Ben's 2nd meeting with his new friend, Kingston, a Bernese Mountain Dog . Kingston's owners are neighbors and have agreed to a weekly meeting of petting, kissing and snacking. Ben was intimately involved with all three, luckily this photo shows no proof of spit swapping, otherwise, I would have received a call from Grandma. When I ask Ben about his new buddy, he gets a big smile on his face. It will be exciting to see how this relationship progresses. Hopefully this will be a first of many photos of these two together.

Ben had an MRI recently as a follow-up to the seizures he started having in late April. The hospital receptionist started a conversation with me by mentioning that she had a grown daughter with cerebral palsy. She highly recommended the camp Joni and Friends. She, her daughter and 12 year old son attended the camp last August and plan to go again this year as their family vacation. She said that the activities offered were so wonderful for all of them. If they could use her as a spokesperson, they would certainly attract even more families. Here's one of the counselor's reaction to working at the Joni and Friends Camp: About Face Blog As our children get older we will certainly research a few of the camps they offer for families - Victory Junction is another that offers great opportunities. I am under the weather this week, so bare with me.

Ben, age 6 1/2

Tonight, I had the crazy idea to take the kids out to Applebee's Restaurant and then to our local $2 movie to see The Tooth Fairy . With three loud (and cute) boys, we get noticed at restaurants. Some people smile, some people say the overused, yet polite saying, "You certainly have your hands full." I am sure there are others who whisper under their breath some choice words. We were seated in the bar area of the restaurant with tables overlooking us on the next level. I had noticed one table right above us with a small baby, and I was thankful that we were near parents who may understand any noise or commotion from our table. As we finished our meal, the waiter from the table above us came over and gave us a $20 gift card.  He said it was from a gentleman who had been sitting at the table. We quickly looked around - the table was cleared and no sign of the people. I asked if he had left his name. The waiter just said he wanted you to have this and all he knew was

  Friday night, I ran a 5K through the city of Charlotte. Let me get all my excuses out of the way first. It was unusually hot for an evening run in May (it felt like 90 degrees). I was not prepared for this run having thought it was on May 21. I had a terribly stressful week with MRIs and a long meeting with a neurologist talking about blips, white matter and other stuff I did not understand. So cut me some slack...I was slower than usual and I had to walk a bit. But I finished. The highlight, and too bad it was early on in the race, I needed it at the 2 mile marker, was a visually impaired man running the race with a cane . I wanted to say something like "Way to go!" but was unsure if that was an okay thing to do. Within the time it took me to summon up courage, another person said it, and by then the moment for me was lost. Perhaps because I missed my opportunity with the blind man, I did something uncharacteristic of me - I yelled a "WooHoo" when we were

Ben and Sean sharing a bit of play time - it was not long that Ben allowed the hat on his head. Check out other photos at: www.5minutesforspecialneeds.com

Ben, Logan and I saw How to Train Your Dragon on Saturday. I went in with little to no expectations. After seeing it, this movie will go on my list of all-time favorites. The music, scenery and characters were superb. The story was a beautiful one. It had two simple messages: Believe in your child. If you've had the same solution for a problem and it has not worked, try something completely different. I will keep these two lessons close to me as I go through life. They are easy to understand, easy to facilitate and easy to forget in times of stress, lack of sleep and pressure. And if while reading this, you pictured us sitting three in a row, sharing popcorn and pop, watching the movie in silence...it was not quite like that. Ben complained loudly and grabbed at me non-stop in the beginning. After a few seat changes (on my lap, off my lap, next to me, out of his chair, in his chair, laying down, 10th row up, 4th row up) and a sad thought that we may have to leave the theat