Wednesday, March 25, 2020

My Days

I'll just let Brady P. Tell you about it...

* * *

Hi.  This is Braeden.

Mommy and me have been hanging out a lot.  We have fun. She is cool.

I get to do fun things every day.  We always have a yummy breakfast with berries and oatmeal.  Oatmeal is so yummy.

Sometimes when we eat, I notice mommy looks sad.  I look at her and say, "Hug."  Then I get to jump in her lap and hold her tight, so she knows I love her and everything is going to be okay.  I want her to be happy.

We have been doing school work, too!  I like to do school work.  Mom takes my little cymbals and dings them three times when it is time for me to take my seat at the table.  Sometimes I get to ding the cymbals.  I do a good job, too.

Mom has cool hats and mittens and boots.  I like to wear things from her basket when we go outside.  She lets me.  Except for her boots.  One day I wore her black puddle boots outside, and she had to carry me down the steps because I couldn't walk down them.  I couldn't walk fast down the road either.  But then the wind got chilly, so we turned around and went home.

I like that we get to throw rocks.  Mom puts me in my chariot, and she rides her bike to the creek.  I always yell for her to go faster, but she says, "I am going up a hill!" and she just keeps going slow until we go down the hill.

Yesterday I tried casting with my red pole.  Mom explained the reel and the button and the throw and switch hands, but I think I just like to whip it back and forth.  Mommy says I have a good fly-fishing cast.  Dad and Gramps both said they will take me fishing this summer.


Sometimes we go for a walk to the turn.  There has not been many cars at all, so she lets me walk in the middle sometimes because I have been a good listener when she tells me a car is coming.  I get all the way to the side of the road to stay safe.  Sometimes I even see the car coming, and I get to the side all on my own.  She is really proud of me!


I try to be good for mom because she really loves me, and I love her.  But sometimes I throw things.  Like her pajamas off her bed.  Or my pencil during school work.  Or the pillow off the couch.  Or my glasses after we read a book.   Or the book.  She always gives me a mad look and reminds me not to throw.  The other day I threw my maraca and it broke and we had to find all the beads that were inside.  She said that's why we can't throw things because they might break.

I have a new favorite song!  "Ants in my Pants!"  I make mommy play it 100 times or so each day.  I always take out my red and blue ant toys and pretend they are in my pants when I dance.  It's a funny song.

We read books, too.  I am getting good at reading, and I love it when Mommy looks at me with a surprise face because I read a page really good.  Sometimes I think she forgets that I can read, but I am a good reader.

At night she snuggles with me in my bed.  She is not there in the morning, though.  And she said that when I wake up in the middle of the night, I have to close my eyes and think about the good things until I fall asleep.  I like it when she tells me about the good things.  It makes me feel good and safe and then I fall asleep and have good dreams.

I hope you have good dreams, too.

Bye!

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Making the Best of It

Okay, well, I thought last week was crazy, but...

... we won't even go into the details of this week because you already know from your own life!

It's back to me and Brady P. 24/7.

Have you ever hung out with someone all the time like that?  I mean ALL THE TIME?

Even if I have somewhere to go, he comes with me.  We eat together, play together, go outside together, learn together, go potty together (sometimes) and so on.

Luckily, and this is how I stay sane, we do not sleep together.

He goes into his own bed.  At first I lay next to him and wait for him to fall asleep.  Then I pray to his guardian angels to watch over him at night so I get a break.  Then I sneak out.

Close his door.

Take a big sigh.

I am not necessarily a religious person, but I know when I need to ask for help.  Nobody else is here to take care of him throughout the night, so I just pray.  So far, it's working.  

Thank you!

I would like to assure you that our days are most lovely together.  We do not battle each other hardly at all.  As long as I keep the young buck fed at an alarming rate, we do just fine.

Pretty wonderful, really.

Remember that person you may or may have not been with 24/7?

Well, imagine they are hilarious and always do random things to be a goofball.  Imagine they eat whatever you make for meals and they are polite about it and seem to enjoy it.  Imagine they love you unconditionally, and you get sweet kisses and hugs throughout the day.  Imagine you feel the need to put your whole heart into that person, so all the extra efforts you make to assure they are learning to be their best self are worth it.

Goofball puts on Mom's winter wear

Playing frisbee on the dry roads

It really makes for a amazing time, and I am sooooo grateful.  When I heard school was called off for three weeks (at a minimum), I almost panicked.

But I am taking this as an blessing rather than a curse.  Luckily I have several jobs that are flexible and one of them was the school!

I lucked out there big time.

And I am not worried really.  This won't last forever.  But while we are in this situation, we will make the best of it.

Besides... the mouth of Fanny Hooe Creek is starting to melt off and we just discovered rocks to throw!

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Missed Ya!

Oh, man.  It's been a crazy week!

I'll catch up with you next Wednesday.  Smily face.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Such a Little Man

Brady P. is going through some changes right now. 

He is not a toddler anymore.  He is maturing and developing in ways that continue to shock and awe me.

For one, his sleeping habits are different.  It used to be that I got him all ready for bed, we'd run and jump on his bed, he'd snuggle in, I'd give him a kiss and walk out his door, closing it behind me with a sigh of relief.

That doesn't happen anymore.  Now he is getting out of his bed around 1am nearly every night to come snuggle with me.

I was very resistant to this as first because I worked so hard to get him to the point where he would stay in his room all night, and I wasn't going back.

But he is changing, and having dreams, and he wants to feel protected.  Once I gave up the reins and let him snuggle with me until wake-up time, we both slept better and he was much more accommodating to me throughout the day.

Like, every day.  I am grateful.

In another area, he is eating a LOT.  And growing in all directions.

He is also starting to use full sentences.  "This one is big!" when he points to his ice cream cone.  "What does this say?" when he sees new words in a book he's reading.  "Let's go, guys!" when shouting for his favorite hockey team.

Each time he busts out a new sentence, I am amazed.  It's all so new to me, that it still blows my mind when I realize he will speak like an adult someday. 

I think his passion for reading has a lot to do with that.  What a gift!

He is even working on spelling words himself.  Wow.

And he wrote his letters like a champ in school today!


These are all things I've been noticing and adjusting to in our life.  But when his coordinator from the ISD came to see him yesterday, she was floored.

She looked at me with huge eyes and said, "He is just blowing me away!  We're going to have to amend his IEP because he has already achieved many of his goals for this year."

We looked through his IEP, and, sure enough, he has checked off some important goals in speech and fine motor skills.  When we set those goals in June, I thought they were pretty lofty, but he is surpassing them!

Do you know how proud that makes me?

It's so fun to hang out with him and watch him interact with other people, observe objects and processes, entertain himself and interact with me.  We definitely have a beautiful relationship that just took a new turn for the better as I watch him understand more about his surroundings and I let him take the lead.

He has opinions and preferences, and when I follow him around, I learn a lot myself.

Our children are definitely our teachers.

One thing that hasn't changed is his compassion for people.  If he sees you crying, you will get a hug.  If you hurt yourself, he will kiss it.  If you are sick, he will tell you to be happy.

It's nice to have a little angel around.