Batter up!

So, we have this Walk With Me fundraiser coming up for Easter Seals, Luke’s main therapy place.  In order to prepare for this day they are doing a special night at a minor league baseball game, where several kids with special needs will be doing some main things…like the first pitch, calling out “let’s play ball” and doing the anthem.   Well Luke is going to be one of three kids that will be on the field for the first pitch, since he doesn’t really talk he can’t really do anything else. 

In preparation for this my husband has been “coaching” Luke, not that he needs “coaching” to throw things.  But my husband has a baseball that he has been working with Luke on, in order for him to throw…since we didn’t know for sure if Luke would actually be throwing the ball or not.  Which I just found out yesterday that he won’t be throwing the ball, but just be there on the field and one of the older kids will be throwing the ball.

Anyway, in preparation for what we thought Luke might be doing my husband has been trying to get Luke to throw the baseball while in his walker.  Which Luke surprisingly is able to do quite well.  He has gotten so confident of late that he’ll let go of one hand on the walker to wave to someone, grab on to something or even to throw a baseball.  He has quite an arm when he gets it right, although many times he winds up throwing it backwards…which I have no idea how that happens.  Even when he throws backwards Luke is able to stand for a few minutes holding on to his walker with only one hand….which is so great!

My husband and Luke have had a fun time “training” and our baby girl has been in on the action too.  She’ll go after the ball when Luke throws it and she’ll try to throw it herself.  My husband thinks she may be a softball player….but she’ll have to learn to not let the ball get by her so often.  Watch the video below and you’ll see what I mean, if you look close enough you’ll watch the ball go right between her legs…while she is walking…..which I think takes some talent, right?  

They strike again!

So this morning while I’m cleaning the kitchen after breakfast, I let the kids play down the hall.  I usually put up the gate, but this morning I thought I’d let them play in the hall and their own rooms if they wanted.  After cleaning the kitchen I was going to write this blog, but before doing that I went to check on the kids.  They usually come and go while I’m in the kitchen, but this time they were suspiciously absent and quiet.  Those two things are usually not a good sign, and when you combine them…it usually means the kids are up to something.

So, I walk down the hall and I check Luke’s room.  They weren’t there, so I went on further down the hall and before I saw the kids I heard a “thunk” sound.  When I looked into our baby girl’s room I saw both kids looking at me very innocently, but I quickly thought about the sound I heard and noticed where the kids were.  They were right next to our baby girl’s diaper pail.

I then took in the rest of the room, there were diapers everywhere….clean one’s….but I quickly figured out that they were putting the clean diapers in the dirty diaper pail.  So I moved the flap on the pail and sure enough, there were clean diapers….and not just a few….more like 15 laying on top.  I quickly rescued the poor clean diapers.  I guess it is a good thing that they know where the diapers go, right? 

I took the clean diapers out of the pail and put them back, only to find that right afterwards our baby girl grabbed a clean diaper and tried to put it back in the dirty diaper pail.  Because I wanted to finish getting myself ready for the day, I picked up the diaper pail and put it in the bathroom with me.  This didn’t stop our baby girl who then brought a clean diaper into the bathroom and pointed to the diaper pail and said “aaaAAhhh??”  I then told her “no, the diaper pail is only for dirty diapers” and pointed to her diaper that she had on.  Then she looked at me, looked where I pointed, then pointed to the same area and asked, “aaAAhh?”  I’m not sure she got what I was trying to say.  But, she did stop trying to put the clean diapers in the diaper pail.

Only then, Luke decided to have some “fun”.  He then put one of the “clean” diapers in his mouth so he could chew on it !!  I’m sure this was one was in the diaper pail earlier. AARRGGGHHH!!!!  After getting the diaper out of his mouth I then closed all the bedroom doors.  So much for letting them play in their rooms!!  

Mommy Brain

Now I know I have mentioned the “mommy brain” off and on in various posts.  I just have to share two funny “mommy brain” moments that took place in the last 24 hours. 

This morning I was getting the kids ready to go meet and friend and her daughter to have a play date.  Everything went well, got the kids dressed and had breakfast…until I went to go put on their shoes.  Our baby girl’s shoes I found fairly quickly, after I realized I already got them out and put them by our diaper bag.  But Luke’s shoes were another story.

I looked all over.  I thought I put them in his room in their usual spot…but maybe they were by the door to the garage…..so I looked there as well.  But….I couldn’t find them.  Finally I stopped to think and realized it may not be a case of “mommy brain”….it may be a case of “sneaky kids”.

Luke was playing in his room this morning while I was cooking breakfast, and he has clothes all over the floor… so I looked under those and…and I looked under the bed…and under the stairs to his bed…and in the clothes drawers…..but the shoes weren’t there.  Finally I saw part of a shoe in the laundry basket under some clothes.  I dug around and found the tennis shoes….but for Luke he also needs his SMO’s, or braces. 

By this time I was getting frustrated when I realized we were going to be running late.  Then…I looked again in the kitchen and saw our baby girl who was still in her feeding chair.  I then realized that she has a fascination with shoes and has put her brother’s shoes in her closet before.  So I went to her room…sure enough the braces were in her closet…only not on the shelf with her shoes…instead the braces were in her laundry basket.  I’m not sure if Luke or our baby girl did this…or maybe both…but they sure had their mommy stumped this morning.

The second thing happened yesterday…only I didn’t realize what I did until today at lunch.  That sounds strange, doesn’t it?  Well, yesterday around lunch time I was preparing to leave for an appointment.  A friend came over with her two kids to watch our baby girl while I took Luke to his eye doctor.  So, there I was talking to my friend, preparing lunch for our baby girl and Luke…..and mentally going over things (did I pack everything I need?  Did I forget to tell my friend where to find things for our baby girl?).  I’m sure all moms can relate to that thinking. 

Anyway, come to find out…today I opened the freezer to get out some chicken nuggets to cook for lunch….and there was a small bowl of green beans.  I put them in the freezer to cool them off for Luke at lunch yesterday.  I obviously forgot about them.  They were frozen good.  I had to let them thaw out so I could throw them away.  This was a definite case of “mommy brain”.

Go Luke Go!!!

This past weekend we went to visit my husband’s grandparents.  Both his grandpa Bob and grandma Mary live in Indiana, so we left Friday and stayed till lunch time Sunday and were able to have a good visit with them both.  The kids really enjoyed visiting their great-grandma Mary who happens to live right next to the elementary school of her town.

When I say next to, I mean in her back yard…literally.   Saturday night we took both Luke and our baby girl into the backyard and over to the school’s play sets.  We helped Luke and our baby girl get up the steps and things and helped them down the slides.  They thought it was great.

One of the play sets was set up kind-of like a maze of sorts.  It had 5 different slides and had several stairs and three ways you could enter the set in order to get to the slides.  Two ways to enter led up a stair and had you walk over a log bridge and then up more stairs to get to the slides.  The other way to enter was by using some parallel bars that led to a stair and then you could take a couple more stairs to get to the slides. 

We let our baby girl go down a slide and then walk all the way around and come in one of the far entrances that led the bridge and then the stairs.  But for Luke, we thought it would be a good workout for him to use the parallel bars.  After all they were the perfect height. 

At first Luke wasn’t so sure about the bars, I had to keep directing his hands to the right positions so he could walk forward.  But, by the second time he figured it out and was doing great!  Not only did Luke get a work out with his arms, but his leg and ankle muscles had to hurt later on because the playground had tiny stone pebbles as a floor.  It felt like you were walking on a beach the way your feet would sink and slide when you walked.

Below you can see Luke walking on the parallel bars, this was his third attempt and he was doing well till towards the end you can tell he is starting to get frustrated.  He just wants to get to that slide already!!  Forget the walking to get there!!

Luke's Dance

Luke has always loved music.  It is the one thing that tends to calm him.  So on long trips we play videos with music and when we go to new places to spend the night, we take a radio and play music to help him sleep.  Luke also loves to “rock” to the music…sometimes it looks more like “head-butting”.  Either way I think it is his way of dancing.

One night I caught this on video.  Luke and daddy dancing to the music.  It was pretty unique, since Luke doesn’t yet use his legs to dance…it is all in the upper body.  Maybe Luke can start his own dance video. 

Solution?

Alright, I talked a week or so ago about Luke’s new bed and the problem we have now with Luke hitting his feet and especially his head on the wall next to his bed.  After a lot of thought and research on possible solutions, I finally decided to try putting some of those puzzle piece play mats on the wall.  Hoping they would keep Luke from hurting himself.

Well on my way through the store to find some, I happened to find some bath mats that were really cushy.  So I decided to try those instead.  I even called my husband and told him about them and had him swing by the hardware store to pick up some “industrial strength Velcro”.  I thought this might be the perfect solution.

It took a few days to get them up.  I had to time it right, the Velcro was supposed to be on for 24 hours before using it and I knew I couldn’t do that…so I put the Velcro on the mats…let them sit 24 hours and then had to wait for a morning where I had time to put them on the wall first thing after getting Luke up.  That way, the mats would be on the wall for at least 6 hours before Luke took his nap.

The day I put them up went well, I thought for sure we found the solution!!  Then the following morning I let Luke play a little in his bed before getting him up.  When I went in I found that the upper part of the mats were hanging off the wall.  Urr…I was so frustrated.  Of course that morning I didn’t have time to try and fix this problem because we had therapy and then mom’s group.

So...Wednesday night I had an idea.  I knew we had some extra “Krazy glue” from something I had to try to get up in the bathroom.  So Thursday morning right after getting Luke up, I climbed in his bed and put some Krazy glue on the Velcro part that was showing.  I am hoping that this will work!!  Luke was so tired when I laid him down for his nap Thursday that he didn't have a chance to mess with the rugs…so hopefully the glue will have plenty of time to dry and hopefully this will work!!  Below you will find pictures of what I am talking about, what the rugs should look like and what they looked like after a day and a half of Luke messing with them.

Back in time?

   "If you could go back in time and tell your teenage self one things, what would you say?" (Got Teens by Jill Savage)

This is a hard one for me.  It is hard because I grew up in a great loving Christian home.  I had parents who instilled God’s values in my life, therefore I didn’t get into any “big” issues.  I never did drugs or drank alcohol and when I married I was a virgin.  I’m not saying I was “perfect”…not at all.  But, from a young age I tried to live a life for Christ.

I could tell myself to not “kiss so many frogs” before finding my “prince”.   My grandma always told me to “keep kissing those frogs and one day one will turn in to a prince”.  I would just laugh and smile at her.  But, in the back of my mind I always had those thoughts.

Or maybe I would tell myself to be more involved in “special needs” activities and get involved somehow with “special needs” families.  I say this because our oldest son, who is now 3 ½ years old, has global developmental delays.  He has no diagnosis as of yet, although we keep searching.  The only thing I can really explain about him is that he has low muscle tone throughout his body.  But, the Lord continues to give him strength and he continues to get stronger and stronger each day…little by little.  Through him I have a definite new view on life through the eyes of “special needs”.

I did help a couple years with “Special Olympics” which was always a blessing.  Those experiences opened my eyes to the “special needs” world.  But that window only stayed open for a short time, after the “Olympics” were over I went back to my blessed life and rarely thought about those kids and what their families must be going through.

So I think that is what I will settle on, I would tell my teenage self to pay more attention to those with “special needs” and their families.  I would also tell myself to look for ways to volunteer to help those families to make their lives easier and to soak up as much information on that subject as possible….in order to prepare for the future.

Which way?

Ok, I know all moms out that can relate to this one.  When you get a new outfit, especially on younger babies, do you ever find it hard to figure out which way is the front verses the back?  I had this problem often with Luke, especially the first few months.  Some of those baby onesies and outfits can be hard to figure out.  And what is with all the snaps!!  I know we need them, but half the time with Luke and our baby girl I couldn’t get the snaps to stay snapped…or worse I would snap them up and then think I was done….only to realize that I was off by one snap on the left leg…which meant starting all over again!!  I quickly learned to put their arms and legs in the right positions, then start at one end of the outfit or sleeper and slowly work my way to the other end.  If I did this, I was effectively checking my snap placement as I went….which allowed me to get it right….at least 90% of the time.

Well….I say all this because I thought we were past that point.  After all Luke and our baby girl are at the point where they no longer need those horrible snaps and most of their clothes that might be confusing actually  have a tag.  I will always remember my mother telling me that the “tag goes in back”.

When I thought we had it “made” now, I didn’t take into account my husband’s lack of experience in the “girl clothing” department.  One time I come home to find our baby girl in pink shorts, only to discover when she turned around that they really weren’t “shorts”.  It was one of those “skorts” where they are “shorts”, but the front looks like a skirt.  I laughed and told my husband they were on backwards and he said “no they aren’t the pockets are in back”.  I just laughed some more and told him the pockets are supposed to be in front, and tried to explain the concept of a “skort”.

The funniest moment of “clothing confusion” took place a few weeks back.  I was giving Luke a bath while my husband was putting our baby girl in her PJ’s.  He was putting her in a new pair that we got for Easter from grandpa, that were light weight.  Anyway, there I am trying to wash Luke in the tub and I hear my husband, “who got these for her?  I don’t like them.”  I asked him why he didn’t like them, I didn’t see any issue with them.  Then he said that they zipped in the back.  I thought that was strange…after all usually the sleepers/PJ’s with feet zip in front.

Then when Luke and I were on our way out of the bathroom I saw our baby girl.  She ran over to us and gibbered at me.  I took one look at her and laughed so hard.  My husband obviously put the PJ’s on backwards, which took some talent since the feet were on the correct way but the torso area was backwards. 

You might wonder how I knew this?  Well, these PJ’s have little ballerina’s on them, with ballerina slipper looking feet and a little ruffle that goes on the rear end (which make it look almost like a too-too).  So the feet were right, but the pink little too-too part was on her belly instead on her rear end.  So funny!! 

I can’t wait till our baby girl is older and she can correct her daddy if he starts to dress her backwards.  Below you can see a picture of how these PJ’s are supposed to be, so you can visualize a little better what I am talking about.

Team Luke and Friends

Below is a slideshow, converted to movie format, I put together for our church to show all the wonderful things they are able to do for Luke at Easter Seals.  Enjoy!

Please feel free to share this with your friends and family and ask them if they would help Easter Seals by supporting Team Luke and Friends.

Little Thief

Ok, so as a “special mom” I’m still getting used to the idea of a child without physical handicaps.  Don’t get me wrong, it is wonderful…even refreshing!!  But…still it takes getting used to.  After all Luke can’t really be terribly “sneaky”.  If he takes something and hides it…it isn’t a quick action…I can usually catch him while he is still trying to hide whatever it is.  When Luke goes after something, like a book or remote that is on an end table…I have warning, since it takes him a while to pull up and then cruise over to what he is aiming for.

On the other hand our baby girl is turning into a “little thief”.  She is quick!  If something is in reach, look out…it is often gone in the blink of an eye.  Especially if it is something she find interesting, like the cordless headset for the phone in the house, a cell phone, or even my digital camera. 

I’ll be sitting there with the phone on the couch or end table, and she’ll sneak over…real quiet like….and snatch it up.  Then, because she knows she shouldn’t have it she takes off with it as fast as her little legs will carry her. 

The other night she was running all over, waving something in the air.  I didn’t pay much attention to what it was because I was talking to my husband about something.  But, my husband noticed and started laughing and calling her a “thief”.   It took a while to register what he was talking about and then I noticed she grabbed my cell phone from the kitchen table! 

She has also been known to get a hold of my husband’s wallet and open it up and start pulling out all the credit cards and things.  Another time she got a hold of my money that I had sitting in my purse, waiting to put in a graduation card!  

Boy, she keeps me on my toes.  I can’t trust her within arm’s length of anything other than toys.  She’ll even take my shoes from the door and hide them or her own play shoes that I have by the door.  Crazy girl…giving me a “run for my money”.

Crazy mommy

So I have to share the crazy time I had the other day with the kids.  I took both kids to their pediatrician for an 18month check-up for our baby girl.  Then afterwards we had about 40 minutes to kill until we needed to leave town for Luke’s PT session.  So, what do you do when you need to burn some time?  Go to Wal-mart!  Of course, I would say the mall or something just to let the kids walk around…only the town I was in had no mall. 

So off we went to Wal-mart.  Now, because I am a PT minded mommy, I think “why not let Luke walk around while I get a couple things?”  Then comes the internal debate, do I let our baby girl walk too?  Or do I use a cart?  The cart won out.  I was afraid I would never find the two items we actually needed if I was busy running down two children. 

So I enter Wal-mart with one hand in our baby girls and the other hand pushing Luke along.  Now, Luke doesn’t “need” to be pushed.  But my husband and I often have to push him a little when he is destracted, if we don’t Luke would stay in one spot all day long.  For example, I had to push Luke through the doors at Wal-mart and down and around the corner before I let go.  If not, he would stand by those automatic doors all day watching them open and shut. 

The funny part was that once I got him around the corner I thought he would forget about the doors, so I let go.  Once I did Luke followed me with the cart for about 2 feet and then decided he wanted to go back to the doors, so he started doing a U-turn.  I had to turn him around and I soon realized that Luke wouldn’t just follow me around the store.  I tried different stratagies, weaving in and out of clothes to keep his attention, going down colorful aisles (like the cards), and finally I found the best way to make sure he stayed with me.  I put one hand on his back and the other I pulled the cart from the side, instead of pushing it.  This worked great, until we had to share the aisle with someone. 

I also encountered 3 different managers and 1 employee who offered to help or get help so I could shop freely in the store.  Which I appreciated, but I wasn’t about to make some stranger follow me around while I shop…just because I wanted Luke to get his PT in. 

Did I mention that one thing we had to do was pick up a prescription?  You can probably imagine the scene.  Here I am with my cart and a 3 year old who has his freedom on wheels, trying to give name and birthday.  Then because I know it would be crazy to check out twice, I ask the lady to please also check out the two items I have in my cart.  All while trying to answer questions from the pharmacy lady, give items to check out, slide my card to pay, and get the bag and receipt…..I am running after Luke who figured out there was another automatic door nearby and he was going right for it.  I lost track of how many times I said “sorry” and ran after Luke and just left our baby girl sitting the cart next to the pharmacy counter. 

It was like trying to have a conversation that keeps getting interrupted by someone….so you learn to just pick up where you left off instead of starting all over.

Me: “I need to pick up a prescription.  Luke Young,” followed by his birthday, then a pause “sorry”

I come back with Luke

Pharmacy Lady: “Would you like to pay here?”

Me: “Yes, please….sorry” and I run after Luke

I come back.

Me: “can I also buy these things too?” Pointing to the cart.

Pharmacy Lady: “sure”

Me: “sorry” and I run after Luke

I come back

Pharmacy Lady: “Just slide your card”  I do and then I see Luke almost to the doors again.

Me: “sorry”

I come back and she has everything bagged up.  I say thanks and we turn around and go.

I’m sure if anyone was watching they would just laugh at the comedy act we had going.  Crazy….I think next time I’ll just put both kids in the cart with Luke in the large basket.  It would be so much easier.

Little Helper

Luke’s little sister, who is 18 months old, is really turning in to a little helper.  This has been a “freeing experience” for me.  It is hard for me to explain.  If there are any other “special” mom’s out there, perhaps they know what I am talking about.  Each time your child reaches another milestone, whether it be sitting up, crawling, speaking, or pulling up.  There comes a feeling of more “freedom”, I guess it is more like our little ones are becoming more independent instead of staying dependent on us for so many things.  Don’t get me wrong, at 18 months my little girl is still dependent on me for a lot of things.  But when you compare that to Luke, she is so independent and it feels absolutely wonderful.

 

She won’t be going to college any time soon, but she is able to walk and understand what I am asking her to do and she has also been picking up sign-language pretty quickly so she can also tell us her needs.  This combination has been such a big help the last few weeks.  I ask her to help me put something away and she does it, or get something and she’ll do that.   She is truly a little helper. 

She has also taken it upon herself to not only help me when I ask, but to help her brother.  I’m not sure he asks, but through his screaming she seems to understand.  Either that or she simply sees his need and meets it.  Either way it has been not only helpful but pretty cute to watch.

Luke has been doing really well the last month or so with his walker.  He can go backwards and turn himself “around on a dime”.  This has allowed me to let him walk freely around the house with his walker.  I just have to move all the toys and make sure certain doors are shut and off he goes!  Well, our baby girl has proven to be quite helpful when I do this.  The last couple weeks, if Luke gets upset while walking because he is stuck or something similar our baby girl goes to the rescue.  She will run to him and grab a hold of his walker and either push or pull him.  It is like she knows exactly what the problem is and she wants to help him get un-stuck.  It is really cute.

There have been a couple other times where Luke was upset while he was on the floor and our baby girl came to his aide again.  A couple times she brought Luke his juice and one time she even gave him his monkey.  The great part was that when Luke got these things he actually stopped screaming.  It amazes me how much our little girl understands and helps, not just us but her big brother.

A new reading nook

I’ve mentioned before how much our baby girl loves to read and how she likes to find a quiet spot where she can be left alone.  Luke always gets to her, unless she is up on someone’s lap.  It is like he has a “homing device” or something, he knows when his sister has a book and he goes right for it.  Of course our baby girl isn’t happy when he takes the book, she doesn’t like to share. 

I’ve also talked about our baby girl’s favorite “reading nook”, the red wagon.  It worked well for a long time.  Although, if Luke wanted her books it didn’t stop him from taking them.

Last week she found the best “nook”, a place where she can get to but it is more of a challenge for Luke.  I really think she might be able to keep this new place to herself for at least a few months before Luke really figures out how to get to her.  Care to guess where?  It isn’t behind or under something instead it is up high, Luke’s new bed.

It is big enough that Luke can’t reach her from the floor, at least if she sits far enough back.  Luke also can’t get to her because he has yet to figure out how to climb up the stairs to get in the bed.  It is strange since Luke can climb our stairs from the basement, but there is something about the two stairs that go up to his bed.  Luke just doesn’t want to climb up them.  So each time he gets in his bed, I take his hands and he walks into bed instead of crawling up on his own.  Given some more time I’m sure he’ll decide to go up them on his own and when that happens our baby girl will once again lose her “reading nook”.

"I think I can...I think I can..."

Have you ever watched your children do something, and you can’t stop thinking of Thomas the train saying “I think I can…I think I can…”  Those moments that seem to take forever when we watch our children do some kind of task.  For some it may be watching your child try to tie their shoes or watching them trying to take those first steps across a room.

Well, there was a moment with Luke that just cracked me up and I couldn’t help but think of the “little engine that could”.  We were in the kitchen finishing up lunch when Luke started rocking in his chair.  When I say “rock” I mean more of a rock/jerk, the kind of motion that can move the whole chair.  Since Luke is strapped in, he can’t go anywhere unless the chair goes with him. 

On this day, he decided he wanted to go somewhere…anywhere but where he was.  In order to do that, he had to take the chair with him.  So off he went!  If I gave him enough time I think he would eventually get clear across the kitchen, but being the mean mommy I am I put a stop to all the fun after recording this new “antic” of Luke’s. 

In the video you may also note that Luke has his “Cubs” shirt on with the tape that says “Dodgers”.  Just so you know, Luke’s aide did not do this twice, Luke just decided to try this stunt the same day that his aide pulled the “Dodgers” on the tape stunt.  Hhmmmm…I wonder if that was why he was so ornery that day?

New Sport

My husband always seems to think of new things to do with the kids.  You all know how much Luke loves balls, well you may not know how much Luke loves to roll things over.  We even got him a soft bowling set for Christmas, that he loves.  Of course you may also remember me telling you all in the past how Luke loves to throw the ball and have it bounce off things.  Well one night daddy decided to combine Luke’s favorite things: a ball, saying “Go” and hitting a person.  It isn’t as bad as it sounds…I promise.

I was once again doing the dishes, when I heard the kids laughing.  I go to check it out, and there is daddy playing what he called “Luke bowling”.  Luke was in his sister’s room at the end of the hallway playing with the door and daddy was at the other end of the hallway with one of our soft plastic balls.  I stood there and watched as my husband rolled the ball down the hall and hit Luke, of course this set both kids laughing.  What was funny was that our baby girl then ran after the ball to get it and bring it back to daddy so he could do it again.  It was definitely a “family fun” event. 

By the way, I don’t suggest hitting your children with balls.  Just soft ones that bounce right off and don’t cause pain…and only then if your child likes it.