A Strange Breed of Parents...

Apraxia parents are a strange breed. Why, you ask. We are the only parents on earth who celebrate when other parents would be thinking of punishment. How many parents do you know who celebrate when their child says a curse word? Apraxia parents do because it is a new word or a new sound. We live to hear each and every new sound and word. At times, we are known to celebrate when our kids get into trouble at school. Grants teacher uses an app called class dojo. This app enables her to post updates throughout the day regarding each students behavior/progress. The parents can look at their child's report on their mobile device. Positive marks are green and negative are bad. Grant and I always discuss his marks. He knows the difference in the colors. One day not too long ago and found a red mark. I was disappointed until I saw what it was for - talking out of turn. TALKING!!! I tried my best to reprimand Grant for the red mark, but I just couldn't.

Boys Will Be Boys

So Grant got into trouble today at school. For the first time ever, he was able to tell about it. When I asked him what he did, he said, "Push. hit. Box." After speaking with his teacher I learned he pushed another boy into he storage cubbies when they were getting their supplies out. While I was not happy about the incident at school, I was overjoyed that he was able to tell me about it. Later in the evening, he and Danny were home while I was at a meeting. As a result of the bad behavior at school, Grant was not allowed to watch tv and therefore had to keep himself otherwise entertained. Danny was feeding the chickens when Grant came running around the end of the house yelling "Fwy away! Fwy away!" while throwing something up in the air. Danny went to see what it was that Grant was tossing in the air, only to discover it was a dead bird he had found in our driveway. Oh that boy...

Ice cream strikes again...

Sometimes, you just have to laugh, right? Just now, Grant and I came in from swimming. He took his trunks off. I told him to go get dressed as I went to change. I walked back into the den to find him kicked back drinking the rest of his shake that he had gotten earlier in the day - in the buff. I sat down on the other end of the couch thinking, "I really should make him go put some clothes on. Nah, in a minute." I was enjoying the rest of my shake when Grant let out a yelp. I thought he had seen a bug or something until he let out a second yelp. I looked up to see that he had spilled his shake all over himself... and yes, nether regions included. No wonder he was yelping! I stood him up, grabbed his blanket to stop the rest of the shake from running down inside the couch. I went and got a towel to wipe Grant down with and to clean up the mess on the floor. No, I didn't get mad. I was giggling too hard. The look oh his face was priceless! Now he is in the tub and here I sit, still giggling as I type this. What can I say, but OH THAT BOY!

Ice Cream!

It is fun to think back to when the apraxia journey first began and how far Grant has progressed since then. Bear and I were talking about one such instance yesterday. A few years back, she and I went to McDonalds with Grant. We ate and let him play. When it came time to leave, Grant said "i-peem" which was Grantanese for ice cream. I went to the counter to ask one of the clerks if he could have a kiddie cone to which Grant said sternly, "NO! I-PEEM..." I tried explaining to him that is what I was getting as the clerk handed the cone to me. It was then that he again said "no" and pointed at the menu and started jabbering something that I couldn't even begin to understand until I looked up at the menu board and noticed the picture of the ice cream shake with whipped cream and a cherry on top. I turned to Grant and asked "you want an ice cream shake?" To which he giggled, squealed, jumped in the air and shouted "YEAH!" Oh that boy!

Apraxia Awareness 2014

The second annual apraxia awareness day took place on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. Like last year, I made awareness ribbons and passed them out. Emailed the media and told anyone who would sit still long enough about apraxia. CASANA launched an intiative to have apraxia awareness day recognized not only in the whitehouse but in each individual state. Another apraxia mom, Danielle, got the ball rolling in Oklahoma and received a response. Senator A.J. Griffin drafted a resolution declaring it Apraxia Awareness Day in the state of Oklahoma and invited apraxia stars and their parents to be present in the gallery while the resolution was read into the record. Of course I jumped at the opportunity! Our little group decided to have matching shirts made. So on the 14th, Grant and I dressed in our blue apraxia awareness shirts, went to speech therapy and then headed to the capital in Oklahoma City. I explaine to him on the way up that this was a big day and that we were going to meet some important people. Upon arriving at Senator Griffin's office, we were treated so kindly. She and her secretary were so patient with our little apraxia stars. We took photos and then headed to the gallery. We sat and listened while the resolution was read into the record. Even though it was difficult to understand at times, due to the sound system, it was still touching. Then Senator Griffin recognized us in the gallery. That is when the most amazing moment of the day happened. All of the senators present that day, stood, faced us and gave us a standing ovation. Our little stars who are so often looked over or pushed aside for being different or difficult to deal with were BEING HONORED! They were being recognized for their hard work and perserverance. A moment I will NEVER forget! Since that day, more amazing things have happened. I had the opportunity to be interviewed by the local newspaper. Grant's story was on the front page! Because of that article, another apraxia mom from McAlester got in touch with me. We are support for each other and are working together to further raise awareness.

Greeeen Acres is the place to be...

Green acres is the place to be... Farm livin' is the life for me... Well, then again, maybe not. Wednesday night, Danny went to the Thunder game in Oklahoma City. He was going to feed the chickens before he left, but I, being the awesome wife that I am (lol)told him not to worry. I could handle it. Some one please slap me if I let those words roll off my tongue again. I put my oh so sexy chicken feeding attire on (t-shirt, shorts, ponytail and duck shoes), grabbed my egg collecting basket, chicken feed and headed to the coop. First rattle out of the box,I let one of his prized (favorite) ameraucana chickens out of the pen. Every step I took closer to her she took three away from me. I tried luring her with the dried meal worms but she is not as big a fan of them as some of the other chickens. Finally, Danny's Poppa helped me herd her back into the coop. Mission accomplished - catastophe avoided... for the moment. Some of our chickens are sick - one particularly sick. I leaned down to look at her and decided to pick her up to investigate a little closer - bad move. She let out a loud squawk and here came Robert the Rooster to her rescue. She ran off and Robert bowed up. Just as he jumped to flog me, I planted my duck shoe in his chest. He scrambled backwards, recovered and came at me again. Ding! Round two. This time he was met with a galvenized bucket I had in my hand (thank heavens). He ran one way and I ran the other - right out the coop door. I waited for him to go outside in his little chicken yard, then I ran back into the coop to block him out there while I finished feeding and gathering. Robert has no idea how close he came to being battered and fried. Maybe I should follow Mickie's lead and get ducks...

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!