Normal is BORING!

August 21st, 2014 we had a 6 month recheck eye appointment with our FAVORITE eye doc,  Dr. T . I can not say how this man & his staff have been AMAZING over the past almost 8 years (WOW 8 years!). They really have hung in there with us with Bubba & when The Beast had his 2 eye exams; I am SO happy that they like us as people & not just patients! I digress. We showed up I had my 2 plus the little guy I sit for. Ms.D says "want to you to your normal waiting area?" I nodded & smiled. This is funny because this was Bubba's panic room, we don't have to use it that way anymore now it is a Beast containment room. We got settled in then Bubba was brought into the exam room to read charts Ms. D came back stating they were going to get him started; ah hell it was a full exam today! took him back into the room a few minutes later put the drops in & the waiting/complaining begins. I actually enjoy the complaining, no seriously I do! 5 years ago I wo

I posted on FB about how my boards were all done for our first day of school! Another Mom asked what my system looks like so here is my chaos on boards. I have 3 dry erase boards in my kitchen & magnets on the fridge for The Beast so he can know what the big things of the day are & so he can use them as tools. One board is the current day it includes work for the day & chores The second is the week with lists, things to do ect The third is my Momma board family portrait made by Bubba This is The Beasts fridge board/communication center This is what is in Bubba's room for him & friends It helps me to have to repeat everything a thousand times, now I just say check the board.... That is my crazy on boards.

Oh the things you never thought would make you happy.... Progress are the things I celebrate; my oldest went from a kid who flipped out because his clothes hurt him, food couldn't touch one another, getting his nails or haircut was like having a limb severed, going to the doctors of any kind was a WAR that left me usually bruised from the chest to the middle of my thighs, there was a time that he had to wear socks could not be barefoot even on carpet BUT the socks had to be SUPER soft because if the hem in the toe was too hard he would have a panic attack. OMG getting dirty forget about it! Bubba this weekend worked his butt off in the garage with his Dad, I am SO proud of him he got dirty! I mean laying on the garage floor with grease dirty! Auditory is one of the big things for Bubba loud, unpredictable noises, certain tones, pitches really bother him. This weekend though his Dad told him that he was going to help remove and install the rear bearings in the rear of the Chero

LifeSchooling LifeSchooling is "homeschooling" in our home; I do not like the term homeschooling because I feel that there is a ignorant stigma around it to certain stereotypes. We are not taking the classroom, it's routine and doubling that in our home.  Bubba does Math, Social, Studies, Science, English, Computer Science, Robotics, Auto Mechanics & LIFE SKILLS. We want our kids to be kids, to enjoy & explore life; not rush through it. I want my kids to know that the house does not come with a maid or a magic fairy who cleans it when they go to sleep. Food that goes in your belly doesn't get there by just asking Mom or Dad. If you lost something there is no wand to shake & it will appear. Responsibility & Accountability are BIG in the house!  I am learning myself to hand over the reins of control in certain areas so I can teach the kids about  R & A ugh it can be hard sometimes. Our definition of schooling is to love learning, to

We had an end of the year PPT to discuss how Bubba was doing in class, how services were going with his speech & language pathologist. We found out that his SLP was retiring, he would have a new teacher. He was making progress with her, his teacher & para were helping him cope and effectively communicate. We discussed the plan for next year how many days a week he would be going & what session morning or afternoon.  Bubba qualified for the extended year program from PreK after his introduction period to school. Extended School Year Program a.k.a. Summer School was not what I expected. There was a little boy who did not get along with Bubba, both of them struggling with speech & communication not a great mix. One day I received a phone call letting me know that my son had hit this boy with a spoon on his forehead and gave him an egg. I felt so bad for that little boy & couldn't believe that my kid actually hit another kid. I was used to it with his panic

Bubba was identified as developmentally delayed, deemed eligible for Special Education PreK he would receive speech & language services. After the PPT Bubba would go to school the following week, 3 days a week receiving Speech & Language services 1 hour a week! I was shocked & excited this meant that he would be going to PreK3 twice. Bubba was always good about me leaving him places he wasn't kid who had a fit when I left. I knew that is was going to be amazing for him to have to learn to communicate with other people not just me. I was terrified that he was going to flip out in the classroom when he couldn't tell them what he wanted or if he was put into a situation that he wasn't comfortable with. There were other concerns beside the delay in speech, Bubba didn't like a lot of things & not a no thank you I'm not fond of that; I mean a full blown panic attack sometimes being combative. There was a window though of how far you could push him

The Beast was scheduled for his BAER Test in August, thankfully there was a cancellation and we were able to get in a month sooner. The waiting is the worst part! When you have answers you can find tools to work through whatever may come at you, but having assumptions & what ifs ugh they just suck. You can't really do anything except guess at what might work.... The staff is amazing; very comforting and helpful with the explanation of the anesthesia what they were going to do to him. The thing that I honestly adore about CCMC is the fact that they observed him in the room while we chatted and had a good understanding of his personality.  I just love that they got that The Beast just isn't a kid that you are going to reason with, especially if it is something he doesn't want to do! You kind of just have to muscle through it even though it can be stressful. They administered him a medicine that made his a loopy and wobbly; put some

I think we have all experienced déjà vu at least at one point in our lives, I am currently going through it with my little guy. We go to our local Family Resource Center in the district for playgroups & we LOVE all the programs that we partake in. We do the ages & stages questioners & I have been able to soundboard off the parent educators there. I am seeing all of the kids in Finn-Beast's peer group & how they are talking & Finn-Beast is not :( I became concerned with Finn-Beast's lack of talking around 15 months & expressed concerns at 18 months when he went for his well baby appointment. They referred us to Birth to 3 for an evaluation to see if he could get services. I called we set up our appointment & they did the 2 hour evaluation. Let me stop here to for a second I was SO shocked with this whole process & SUPER jealous that I didn't have this for Declan. Back on topic; after the evaluation it was decided that Finn wa

I wanted to make a post just about Family Resource Centers. I do not know if many people know about them or if they have any idea of how much amazing work they do in the community. If you have an FRC in your district you are really lucky & should take advantage of all the awesome FREE programs that they have to offer. If it wasn't for the birthday screening with Declan I might not have received the kind of help we needed & who knows where we would be now. The people that I met through the Play & Learn Groups were amazing resources the helped me find OT & Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician. I have taken classes through the FRC: one was a Parent Leadership Through Civic Engagement & People Empowering People. My little guy & I have Parent As Teacher sessions (PAT) once a month; a parent educator comes to your home. It helps you know if you child is on track, if  you have concerns you mention them, they are great at helping you find the right answers.

Patching & glasses with Bubba was oh so much fun in the beginning, he got used to the routine of every evening watching his movie; thank you Pixar & Disney for Cars, Lightning McQueen you are my hero! Slowly his brain began recognizing his eye & turned it back on! He still needed his glasses, they became his safety blanket. Upon starting he wanted nothing to do with them but now is was the first thing he wanted when he woke up & we had a process to get them off of his face at bedtime. The longer we patched & Bubba wore his glasses some of his quirks seemed to lessen & other things seemed to be arising. Over the next year we had some household changes, I had to return into the workforce finding a job that I could bring my son or worked with my husbands schedule.... I ended up becoming a bus driver, something I NEVER thought I would do! When I started there were a lot of moms & kids there; I was excited to get Bubba around other kids & for me

I LOVE LEGO! I'm pretty sure that there isn't a day that goes by where they don't end up a part of our learning process. Today Declan got to participate in his first Master Build & meet Master Builder Dan! It was all hands on deck at the store, also at the stations were for the master build. There was a fun area to build with Duplos, how many 2' tall minifigures can you find to be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate! The build is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  Leonardo will be the life size TMNT. The  LEGO Grand Opening Weekend  started today & will run all weekend. Minifigure station I love that everything wasn't huddled up around the store itself! It was spread out to either side of the store, so no one was right on top of one another. We have been in the store a few times since the store opened. One of the associates remembers us & always greets us. Great customer service is a HUGE deal fo

They eye exam that you see older kids getting & the ones we get are not the same exams as little I mean really young or uncooperative kids get just an FYI. Getting an eye exam for a young kid, 20 months; who has NO idea what is going on, is blind in 1 eye & does not like to be restrained; is NOT fun! Oh did I mention he was non verbal as well at this time he had a few words but not many. I say this in case you ever have to go for an exam with a little one, so you can be prepared. I thought I was after our first attempt. WRONG! I was really wrong! Going into the exam Declan was already unhappy & NOT cooperating, mind you this is before the drops. I had to restrain my son with every ounce of muscle I had. Legs over legs, cross armed over the chest & someone steadying his head, another to put the drops in. 3 people, it took 3 people just to get the drops in! It 3 people to do the exam as well, Dr. T, his amazing tech & myself. I restrained him with my entire bod

Normal is boring, has been the motto in my house since my oldest Bubba was about 18 months old. His first year was pretty uneventful; 3 months later I started to wonder about a few things..... When Bubba would look at anything he would be on top of it like nose touching whatever he was looking at. Walking he only walked with his right side of his body leading. Talking he had a couple words so I wasn't too concerned, yet. My doctor said it's normal, everything is normal.... This picture was taken in November 2012, see his left eye? I took him into the doctors for something, an on call doctor that was seeing him says "Oh I see your son has a lazy eye?"  I was not shocked, but so mad that my doctor had ignored my concerns & at this point you could see that his eye was not straight. I took him to a very nice eye doctor, we started his eye exam everything was looking OK. Covered his left eye & my son flipped out! I have never seen him so agit

I was over at my friends house visiting her newborn son. Seeing him brought up some nostalgia of my boys when they were little babies, then something else hit me like a semi; panic sheer and utter panic! No one tells you about the panic that you feel as a new mom, the insta-mommy guilt or the crazy hormonal roller coaster for the first couple of weeks. Breastfeeding is not as natural as you would think it would be & that self doubt would be my new hobby! There are a lot of things that I wish the parenting books told me about being a Mom, like everything that I read would not apply to my pregnancy/child. I was around a lot of kids growing up, I did my share of babysitting & was pretty good with little ones. When they are yours everything that you thought you knew goes out the window! Lets back up a minute to pregnancy all the books, even your birthing class tell you about the factual things. The statistical facts gathered & what the normal is; well normal is boring

The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head Exhibit I just wanted to share these collages from the CT Science Center. Declan (9yrs) asked for his birthday for a membership, with the help of our family we were able to attain this for him. We love going there! Currently there is a traveling exhibit of The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head & Mindbender Mansion.  Finn (2yrs) & I only went to the Mr. Potato Head side, the exhibit is for 3rd & under. The staff is very good at making sure that the big kids do not come in; very politely they let them know that it is meant for younger kids. KidSpace & Forces in Motion We LOVE the Forces in Motion room. Finn can  make a race car push the button & watch it go. He LOVES the magnetic trains, he cheers and claps for them! Best place to end our visit is in the KidSpace area! Bring extra clothes & be prepared to get wet! There is a discounted rate for admission for Homeschoolers & 15% off on a membership. Fro

Hi my name is Meghan;  I am a mom of 2 boys Declan & Finn, 2 furdaughters who are rescue pups. Wife to an amazing man who works so hard so I may stay home with our boys.  I am collector of tattoos, LOVE to cook & am a firm believer that what you put out into the universe will come back to you. I search for the good in all things & wholeheartedly believe that my responsibility as a parent is to raise upstanding citizens who will tip the scales of society where it should be.  I am striving to teach my boys through actions & that being rich is not just about money.  Normal is boring is a saying I have been saying for years. I want my kids to never fit into some mold that someone else feels that they should be in; to think outside the box; to strive for progress & not perfection.... I am blogging to find my me time, share my journey as a parent; hopefully/maybe I will help someone in their journey; sharing things we love to do & resources that have been my