Memories

Isn't it funny how a song, a sound or a smell can throw you back in time faster than any time machine ever imagined? Not too long ago, I dropped my car off at the local tire shop to be serviced. They were kind enough to give me a ride to work. I opened the door of 90's model Ford Pickup truck and the smell of cigar smoke came waifting out. As the engine started the radio began to play the local am country station. I closed my eyes and for a brief moment I was heading to the stockyards with my papaw. The smell of diesel sends me back to the bus depot where I waited so many times as a child to see my daddy come pulling up in an eagle bus. Oh how proud I was. That was MY daddy driving that big bus! Just last week, I sad outside in the early morning. Between the humidity in the air, the rooster crowing and the chickens clucking, it almost felt as though I was at mam-maw's waiting for breakfast to be ready. Ah... thank heavens for precious precious memories!

IEPs and Standardized Testing

Just the title of this post makes me go GRRRRRRRRRR! How on earth is a person to develop something "individualized" from something "standard"? There is nothng NOTHING standard about my child. I would like to tell the government what they can do with their "standardized" testing. Gant was evaluated twice. Both results were pretty similar. He is labled as being "intellectually disabled". Polictically correct term for mentally retarded. I have news for the goverment and their tests - my child is the farthest thing possible from mentally retarded!! He is smart, he is intelligent, he is imaginitive, he is loving, and he is going to prove them wrong! In the mean time, I will focus on the positive side of this label. Because of it, he receives the maximum amount of help possible and will therefore overcome!

Titty

Ah, the fun of having a child with a speech disorder. You have to have a good sense of humor otherwise you may not make it. A somewhat stray cat has adopted mom and dad. Grant is intrigued by this cat. He is constantly looking for him ouside. He will stand out in the yard yelling "Oh TITTY TITTY, where are you?!? Here TITTY TITTY! EAT, TITTY TITTY?!?" Grant is so sweet and genuine when he talks about and to the cat, but I can't help but giggle a little when he says titty.

The Flash Strikes Again!

A few months ago, Danny, Justin, Maceo and Michelle played in a disc golf tournament at Chandler park in Tulsa. Kim, Grant and I tagged along. Before heading out to shop, we hung out at the park with the golfers for a bit and then headed to the nearby play ground to let Grant unwind a bit before the shopping began. Chandler park is a large park and was busy that day with cars, people and flying discs. Grant was the only child on the playground. Kim and I visited as he played. I looked up at one point to see him climbing on the fence. I told him to get down and kept talking to kim. A milisecond later, I looked back up to see Grant blazing a trail across the park. He had already run across a road and was darting out through the middle of the disc golf course. All I could picture in my mind was him getting knocked out cold by a disc or getting hit by a car. I took out after him yelling for him to stop. I heard one dad say "Man that kid needs to be the running back on a football team." I yelled at Grant again "William Grant, stop right now!" Evidently in Grantanese that means "kick it in overdrive" because he glanced over his shoulder at me and ran faster. Thankfully another man took mercy on this poor chunky momma and asked if I wanted him to stop him. I gasped "please". He was able to grab the hood of Grants jacket bringin him to a screaching halt. Needless to say, play time was over. Oh that boy!

My Super Hero

Here is my super hero.  He doesn't normally wear a cape and a mask.  He can not leap tall buildings in a single bound, no webs shoot from his wrists, he can't fly, but I think he is AMAZING!  Not too long ago, I was having a pitty party and wondering "Why, God? Why my child?"  I have often voiced this question out loud.  Then one day at work He spoke to me.  I was working on cases of children who had been neglected and/or abused.  God said to me, "You ask why Grant.  What do you think would happen if I had chosen one of these children instead?"  Wow!  It was then that I realized that Danny and I had been chosen for a most special mission - to do our best and be our best to be the parents and advocates this amazing little man deserves.  Why God chose me, I may never know.  I sit and watch Grant as he works so hard to do things and say things that come so naturally to the rest of us.  No matter how difficult the task, he presses on.  He is so determined to do what others do and communicate with other people.  If he is unable to say the words, he always finds another way to communicate his message.  Just this morning, we were outside, he was playing and I was sitting, enjoying the moment watching him.  He looked at me and said "Momma" and started beating his chest like Tarzan, then he stood up, leaned forward and threw his arms behind him like batman does when he is flying (and of course Grant had on his Batman pj's), then he ran over grabbed my hand, turned away from me and put his other fist in the air just as Superman does when he is saving Loise Lane.  Oh little man, you have no idea just how super your momma thinks you are!