mom's cake

My birthday happened to land on a tues. this yr., so the family came over for a cookout with some friends and a very large cake. Dinner was great, the kids ate good, the cards made me cry and then the dessert. A very large sheet cake that was so good with a scoop of ice cream on the side. I felt daring, I gave Corey a piece with ice cream so that he could eat it all by himself. My mom looked on ready to jump in and help with the mess he was making. He was enjoying himself, feeding touching, mushing, it was great. Bedtime came a bit late that night since everyone was on a sugar rush, but it only took him 2 x's up before he was asleep.
The next morning seemed to come so fast and I opened my eyes to him standing on the side of my bed with his hands covered in something?? First look I had a thought, was it edible or not? Well it was frosting, a sweet white frosting from what? MY CAKE! I ran into the kitchen to see my now 1/2 sheet of cake smeered down the front of the stove and upside down on the floor. Ugh! Now what? He was wet and covered in sugary frosting and needed to be changed, but the floor needed to be cleaned up. So trying to hold him back I scooped up what I could and yelled for dad to get him. Phew, saved! Nice and clean at 6am and ready to start our day!!

working hard

Cans 4 Corey raised over $1600 again this year. I didn't think that we would hit that mark but I'm so happy that we did! Hooray for us and for all of our wonderful volunteers and everyone that donated, esp. FARMINGTON!! They brought a dump truck, that's right a dump truck filled with 5c returns. Very long and busy day, one potty break, 2 diaper changes, some fishy crackers and a few juice boxes. Yah! Corey spent some time with a family friend at the park with her niece and big bro, so it was more play than work for him of course. But I'm glad that some cdsc families came out to see what we were doing.
Our next adventure will be the motorcycle ride, how much can we raise? Hopefully more awareness than anything. That's so important to me and I'm sure to so many other families out there with children with special needs. Just know that our children can do great things in the world and they will work hard doing it too!

a burden

Last week I was on fb and saw that a mom that I know who happens to belong to the CDSC had written about a situation that had angered her. Another mom helper at her son's school commented on her son being a burden for his one on one while she had been in the same room helping out. Being so upset and angry she left the room in tears.
Is this what people think of my son? How do I know that this same thing isn't happening in his classroom? Is he a burden? And to who is he a burden to?
See for moms like me we don't have the luxury of asking our children about their day and having them tell us. We have thoughts of how their day could have gone or get a feel for it by looking at their work that was sent home, but we have no way of really knowing.
When I look into his eyes, a burden is not what I see. I see a strong willed young boy that will have to work a bit harder than his peers. He walks, runs, laughs, is silly and makes others smile when they meet him. He is a child and he is my child. One day he will be able to tell me how his day went, just not today.

my music boy

The day came for all the can drive, I knew that it would be alot of work but didn't know it would really be alot of work. I lost 2 bags on the way but stopped and grabbed them as the kiddos were strapped into their car seats bee bopping to the tunes in dad's truck. How was it that the sound of music just makes things all better? They sure do feel this way and it seems to make me feel the same at times. When corey hears music no matter where we are he starts to move, shake and bounce. In the car if the radio is on and I lower it to hear one of the kids of talk to one of them he fusses like crazy for me to turn it up. It took me awhile to figure out what he was trying to tell me and we finally figured it out.
He's now making sounds that are totally sounding like words. In another year and a half he will be speaking in sentences. Funny faces and mimicking are his talents, besides being a good runner.

the runner

So the other day, saturday actually, we were all outside enjoy the beautiful weather. Kids running around laughing pushing toys and mom separating bottles when all of a sudden the neighbor yells something across the yards. Not hearing her, I quickly snapped back to her as she repeated herself I realized what she had said. "Are you missing a little boy", as I started running up the driveway I realized that yes in fact Corey was not in the yard. Now he likes to run around the house pushing his shopping cart and trys to run up the driveway, giggling as he watches me chase him. He wasn't laughing this time, he was scared. Wondering what was going through his mind, I grabbed him from the stranger that was holding him and walked sadly back down the driveway. Knowing what could've happened I started to cry. If only I hadn't looked away, or been so trusting of him, what kind of mom am I, these were rolling around in my head.
He is quick yet they call him "slow". He will surprise us all with his accomplishments, but I can't stop thinking of that day and the what if. Then again today while playing with brother and sis he started pushing that cart and up the driveway went the little runner. This time he was caught. Someone's watching me in the heaven's, thank God!

little bro

Thursday was parent teacher conferences for both Corey and Dylan. I was anxious to see what they had to say about his progress. We had received progress reports earlier in the week to get a heads up, but that's on paper ya know. And to my surprise the words came out. "He's doing wonderfully", sigh of relief came over me and my smile couldn't go be smacked off if someone had tried. The one child that I have been so worried about is doing great and learning and loving it. Things that he's learning in school, he's bringing home. He touched his head and said head. "Head", very clear and over and over and over. I had wished the day would come where he would say a word so now those days are here and they're just getting better.
Then there's my "typical" child. He on the other hand, not so good. And to think, I had hoped he would be the genius. We will just have to work harder and it'll come. Hey he just might learn something from his little bro...

she got me

It was a sunny, windy day that I just couldn't get the chill out. The back door needed to be opened a bit since the kids wanted to play on the deck, but would always end up closed since Corey just likes to push it. I had to put a stick in the top of the slider last year so he would stop closing it, I'm guessing he doesn't remember. Guess that stick will have to be put back.
He went off to school this morning with a pb&j that dad made. School was extended an extra half hour so they were going to eat their lunch today and not just a snack. Dylan had no school and did some errands with dad while Brookie and I stayed home to pick up, have lunch and just sit back alittle. With that extra time at school I had a feeling that he would be whiped and be ready for bed. Sister decided to fall asleep earlier in the day so he was the only one going down and knew it. Not happy, it took a couple of trys, but he was beat and finally gave in.
While I separated cans for the can drive I could hear him breathing in the monitor and his siblings running around the house outside in the sunshine.
At dinner he was trying to tell us something but we just couldn't get it. We were all guessing and we think he wanted his milk since he had got mad and threw it down when dad picked it up telling him no more and putting on the counter. He could see it but never fussed for it so he had us stumped. As I walked over to it, I could hear a sigh of relief from him, as if to say finally she got me. What a day and tomorrow he's home. What will we do?