MANIC MONDAY
October 9, 2017

Generally I don’t have anything against Mondays. I view Monday as the beginning of the week and I tend to like beginnings, as opposed to endings. The start of things, days, events, have an optimism and hope that aren’t as certain to be carried through to the ending.manic-monday

This morning the boy struggled to wake and was grumpy. Granted, I’m not keen on our 5:30 wake-up time either and I find as he matures into his teens, it’s harder and harder for him. Don’t get me wrong he’ll never be the sleep until noon kind of teen, sleeping in to him is more like 6:30am or, gasp, 7:00am! I think he’s just a point where his preference is not be awakened, but to wake naturally, even it were to be at 5:30am, which is what happens often on weekends, when he can actually sleep in! Then, he wakes happily, wanting nothing more than to lounge in bed, watching something mindless, or snuggling.

This morning though, he was a bit of a bear. My solution? Loud music and crazy dancing. First laying next to him, helping to move his arms and waving my hands and legs in the air like an upturned beetle, then me dancing around the room while he shook off his morning blues and eventually laughed, and laughed. On occasion, I can be hilarious! It worked though and to my mind, a quick bit of dancing is a nice way to get the day started.

With that in mind, I haven’t shared the songs that make up my post titles for quite a while because I’ve been so terrible about posting so I thought I’d use this post to do so. Since the last time I shared, here are the songs and artists of recent blog titles:

Manic Monday (The Bangles)
Don’t Stop Believing (Journey)
Swimming Lesson (The Eels)
Sixteen Forever (The Dictators)
Just Like Starting Over (John Lennon)
Changes (David Bowie)
Lean on Me (Bill Withers)
Sharp Dressed Man (ZZ Top)
Summeritme Blues (Eddie Cochran)
Sound of Your Voice (Bare Naked Ladies)
Speechless (Michael Jackson)
Making Plans for Nigel (XTC)

Looking forward to a cheerier Tuesday…

 

 

 

Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Gratitude, High School, Music, Special needs parenting, Teenagers | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

SNOW (Hey Oh)
March 12, 2015

Our annual pilgrimage to Mammoth Mountain begins today with a five-hour road trip up to the Eastern Sierras. The excitement has been mounting all week and no one is more excited than Cole. He loves vacations like this where the day is filled with a defined activity – skiing all day in this case and ends with a group evening – dinner for 24 each night qualifies! Six families coming together for a weekend of snow fun!

We’re stocked up with lots of different playlists on Spotify and a pile of programming he can watch on the DVD player in the van, which will leave him pretty content during the whole drive. Cole does really well on long drives when we prepare well! The nice thing about having him enjoying a movie or favorite show is that it gives my husband and I a chance to chat uninterrupted or censored for hours – a rarity in our daily lives.

My husband is barbeque obsessed (he spent two summers perfecting his rub and baby back ribs and is now focusing on perfecting Texas style brisket) and my mom, ever supportive of his passion, forwarded a blurb about a great barbeque joint that’s on the way to Mammoth so he’s already planning our lunch. I’m hoping we can rope one or two of the other families driving up to meet us. Road trips are definitely more fun when you bump into familiar faces!

Cole is beyond excited to ski again. This will be his third year skiing with Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES), a volunteer based sports program that accommodates needs of all kinds. We’ve been inspired by there program where blind skiers are able to confidently zoom down the mountain and kids like Cole joyfully bounce over moguls in their bucket skis. It’s amazing.

The evenings are casual but festive with all of the families dining together. It’s a great end to the day and the mood is always high. It’s not hard to understand why Cole loves this kind of vacation…

 IMG_9009

(Last year’s gaggle of happy kids)

Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Friendship, Life, Special needs parenting | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

I AM THE DJ (Series – 9)
March 9, 2015

We’re getting prepared for a short road trip to Mammoth Mountain this week, which means we need some good playlists. It’s about five and half hours of driving time each way. It’s our annual pilgrimage to Mammoth…This year there are six families converging on the mountain for some skiing, hiking, and lots of fun! We’re all really excited, but no one as much as Cole. He loves skiing. Mammoth has an amazing adaptive program. He uses a bucket ski and loves to take black diamond runs with moguls and lots of speed. I can only imagine how exhilarating it must feel for him to be racing down a mountain on a sunny, clear day.

His excitement is infectious.

We’ve started watching the new season of The Voice and there have been some songs that Cole has been exposed to during the tryouts that he really liked. James Brown’s “I Feel Good” for one, which made me think it would be fun to create a playlist that has lots of Motown and 50’s and 60’s music. It’s fun car music because Cole and I both love to dance in our seats…

  1. I FEEL GOOD – James Brown
  2. WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO – The Supremes
  3. MY GIRL – The Temptations
  4. YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE – Stevie Wonder
  5. GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY – Little Richard
  6. ALL SHOOK UP – Elvis Presley
  7. IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR – Wilson Pickett
  8. BE MY BABY – The Ronettes
  9. SUGAR, SUGAR – The Archies
  10. I’M A BELIEVER – The Monkees

Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Life, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

LET’S DANCE
January 16, 2015

Tonight is Cole’s middle school Winter Formal Dance. It will be held the school auditorium from 6-9pm. Cole’s going, It took him a while to decide whether or not he really wanted to but ultimately he decided he wanted to go.

He loves to dance, but in truth, he never really has a great time at these school dances. I’m not sure why. Probably the poor acoustics in the in auditorium making the music unbearably loud and the general chaotic nature of middle school dances. He’s not one for big loud or crowd.

However, I suspect that the lure lies, in no small part, in the desire not to miss out. Kids have been talking about it for the past couple of weeks. Everyone’s asking everyone if they’re going…trying to figure out if the cool kids will be there.

All of the kids in our little friend/family tribe have been wavering as to whether they’d attend or not, and slowly as the day approached, each decided to go in the end. Funny how they’ve all come to the same conclusion. No one wants to be the one who missed out.

Missing out on a school dance is a big deal when you’re thirteen. Even if you don’t really want to go, you could be missing out on the chance to witness something everyone will be talking about or to dance next to or with that cute guy or girl in your class, or to just have fun hanging out with your friends on the sidelines. Being the lone kid out on Monday morning when everyone is rehashing the dance feels terrible.

So off he’ll go in his cool dotted Crew Cuts button up with a contrasting striped tie (it is a formal)…ready to dance and have a memorable time with friends. I’ll probably be sipping wine somewhere nearby with the other parents as we wait for the kids to text us to come pick them up…kind of wishing I was dancing too…

Posted in Family Life, Life, Middle School, Special needs parenting | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »