Onward and Upward to Grade One!

I remember his first day of junior kindergarten. I was so unsure how he was going to do. I didn't know if he was going to make friends or be the shy child. It was a big transition for him, and one that took him a couple of weeks to adjust and realize that when you go home from school at the end of the day, you will come back the next day.

Now, as soon as we get to the school he runs off to find his buddies. It's difficult for me to get my goodbye hug in sometimes because he is just so excited to see his friends. My heart swells knowing that he is such a likable kid.

 Yesterday was his senior kindergarten graduation. Yes they do actually have them and I am so glad they do! I couldn't believe that two years had come and gone already! We packed into the gym with the other parents and grandparents. We sat through two songs, which they sang to their hearts content. I was trying to listen with difficulty to the words they were singing, but gave up and watch the gestures that went along with the sings.

And then one by one they walked up to the stage some excited and some shy to be in front of such a big crowd. Then came Logan. I walked up front and center to get that picture. I wanted to have memories of this moment forever.

Before we knew it, the ceremony was over, I was a little glad to be getting out of the now too stuffy gym. And we walked out of the gym and they had posters on the wall of what the kids wanted to be when they grow up. And sitting there was Logan's. And of all the things in the world to be he has made big dreams to one day be a fire breathing dragon. Yes you read that right a fire breathing dragon! My first thought was my child is awesome! I loved how original he was. How amazing it is that he can think outside the box. Keep dreaming big buddy, I can't wait to see at your grade eight graduation what you want to be when you grow up!



I chased him around the yard outside after all the kids were treated to ice cream from the local ice cream truck just to snap some pictures of him with some of his friends. He has a lot more friends then I knew about, and I hope they last for years to come.


We are coming up to the last day of school and it will end with excitement and lots of hugs and possibly a few tears. I sometimes feel like kindergarten is a special safe place, so now naturally I have new concerns and fears for him. But like always he will prove to me that I have nothing to worry about and he will be just fine.

 

Grade one here we come!

Band on the run

I have lost track of the amount of weeks we had been training for. All I knew was that the day was quickly approaching.

When I first started running I didn't think it was possible for me to run 5k. I had seen my Mom run many races going all the way up to  marathon and I never thought it would be possible for me to run a race with her. But I did. And it felt so great!

I took this challenge on not only for myself, but for my children as well. And I am so glad that my son was able to see that hard work does pay off and if you set a goal you can achieve it.

The day of the race I was so nervous. My daughter was so nice that morning that she woke me up at 5:45am, giving me a few hours to get my nerves running high. At 8:00am we made our way down to the race. We turned the corner and the crowd, oh my goodness the crowd! There were over a thousand people there and my nerves shot into overdrive!

Stay calm, I told myself and don't compare. We were running the 5k, but there was also a 10k and half marathon being run, so there was some super athletes there and I had to keep telling myself that everyone started somewhere and this is my start.

We watched as the half marathoners and the 10k runners took off and it was finally our time to start. We walked down to the start line and stood in the huge crowd of runners shoulder to shoulder ready to go. Nervous energy surrounded me. And the feeling of being in that crowd and getting ready to run is unexplainable and different for each person, but it was a great feeling. I made sure I was on the one side so I could high five my son as we went by.

And then we were off.

We were met with a giant hill right off the start, but just remember hills are your friends! We turned the corner and saw a glorious sight, downhill! But it wouldn't last long as the whole first half of the race was up hill. We reached the top of the last hill and saw the water station and I knew that we were halfway done. And I was feeling ok. Then we heard someone say, it's all downhill from here! Just what I needed to hear to keep me going. We reached kilometer 4 and my Mom asked "do you want to take your walk", I said "no lets run the last kilometer." She asked "are you sure" and I said "yes." We finally reached the bridge and I could see the finish was coming up. We turned the final corner and I looked at my Mom and asked "are you ready?" She said "go for it" and I ran it straight in to the finish and it felt amazing.

We didn't finish first and we didn't finish last, the point is that we finished. And to be exact we finished in 469th and 470th place out of 572 runners in the 5k race. The course was a lot more challenging then I was expecting. We didn't do a lot of hill training, but we still came out alive!

After the race my Mother asked me "are you going to keep running?"

I replied "of course!"

I was already thinking of our next race to do.



What a rush!

There I was this morning sitting in the drive thru line up, which was much longer then normal this morning probably due to the frigid cold outside!

I look in my review mirror and for some reason I make the decision. There was no particular reason why it just felt like the right kind of morning to do it. I pull up and order my usual coffee, no chocolate cookie this morning as Brynleigh is at home with Daddy this morning while I dropped Logan off at school.

I pull up to the window to pay for my order and I say it. "I would like to pay for the order behind me as well please."

I have no idea how much the woman behind me ordered and it didn't matter to me. I just wanted to make someone's day, a Friday especially a little bit better. I wanted them to be reminded just like I was that yes, there is still good in the world.

I got such a high from it. I felt like I was doing something super top secret. I bet if everyone knew how it made them feel afterwards more people would be paying it forward. It not only made her day better, but mine as well. I know it was nothing big, but it was just enough for today.

And as I sat at the red light after pulling out, she drives by me and honks and waves.

I want to encourage you to pay it forward. Trust me the feeling you get from it is amazing, and I bet you the person will never forget it, whether it's big or small.

Pay It Forward!



Touchy Subjects

Vaccinations

It is such a hot button topic right now, what with all the measles outbreaks that is happening. Closest one to us right now is about a 30min drive away.

But I want to say one thing. Vaccines do not cause autism!

I will say this again VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM!

There is no research out there to my knowledge that has found the root of what causes autism, and so therefore parents that have children with autism need to find blame somewhere. They need to be able to pin point the root of the cause of it. But they can't. You can't. I can't. And the person to blame for all this misinformation is a doctor. Well he is no longer a doctor, but was. Andrew Wakefield. Thanks buddy!

My children both of them are fully vaccinated up to their age. And my five year old son has autism.

He was born with it. Diagnosed at the age of 3, shortly before he was to start school. Being a first time mom I really didn't know anything about autism. And therefore was not looking for any of the indicators of it. Until it was very noticeable with his speech and his eating.

Do I blame anyone or anything for his autism? Nope. And to a stranger you would have no idea that he has autism. He is high functioning and has great social skills, and after starting school his speech took off! He still struggles with his eating and in other areas, but you would never think autism.

I hate that this doctor made this false connection with vaccines, because it is one of the go to pieces of information that some anti-vaxxers use and it just plainly pisses me off. It says to me that me as a mother chose to vaccinate my child and therefore I am the one to blame for his autism.

I am the one to blame? No I am the mother that is giving my child a vaccine for a preventable illness. A vaccine that some other children are not able to get because they are too young, immune compromised or simply an allergy. I am choosing to protect my child and those others that are unable to get the vaccine.

I love my son just the way he is. He has a neurological difference that makes him unique. My child was going to have autism whether I  vaccinated him or not. And it just makes me cringe every single time I hear this excuse of autism and vaccines.

I will not blame medicine for the fact that my son is autistic. I will sit here and say thanks to modern medicine we are able to protect our children better.

The year gone by

January 1st 2015, wow 2015!

There were days this past year where I thought I would never make it to 2015. There were many ups and downs and lots of wonderful memories made.

There was birthdays and lots of trips to the park. We even enjoyed a few wonderful days camping (with a severe thunderstorm thrown in there as well!) We visited friends and family and enjoyed endless summer days outside.

We survived meltdowns and temper tantrums. The good days and the bad. Sleepless nights and early mornings. Lots of sickness and bumps and bruises.

Logan moved from junior kindergarten to senior kindergarten. Brynleigh turned two and Logan turned five. He enjoyed his first birthday with friends from school and had a blast!

There was easy days and tough days. Days filled with tears and days filled with laughter. We trudged through rain on Halloween to collect some candy. We came together on Thanksgiving to spend time as a family. We counted down to Santa's arrival and tore open gifts on Christmas morning.

We gave to the less fortunate and learned to share. Made about 100 candy cane reindeer for school and work!

2014 is behind us and we have so many great memories to take forward with us in 2015. And this year is waiting for us to fill with memories and more great times. There might be some tears along the way, a few bruises and maybe some scrapes, but the fun memories and adventures ahead will keep us moving forward.

This year I am determined that we are not only going to just exist and just try to get from day to day, but to really live our lives. To take each day as a gift to be together with one another. We only live once so we need to start seizing the days and take advantage of every minute, every second we have with one another.

From our family to yours, all the best in 2015!

One Day

One day there will come a time when my son realizes that he is a little bit different.

One day he will realize that writing his name is a little bit more difficult for him.

One day he will see that he isn't able to read as well as his friends.

One day he will see that he is the only one during lunch time that isn't eating a sandwich.

One day I may have to explain to him why he is a little bit different, and I dread that day.

He doesn't notice any of these things right now. He loves being with his friends and he will talk your ear off about a drawing that he did. He can see the whole picture there, but to others just looks like a bunch of scribbles. When your five nothing seems impossible. Everyone is the same and everyone plays with everyone else.

He has this girl in his class that admires him for how fast he can run. She was really excited to introduce him to her mom and tell her all about him. I fear one day that it will turn the opposite and the girl in his class will only tell her mom about how different he is.

When he talks to adults I stand there silently and watch him and look at the parent wondering if they know. Can they tell that he isn't like the rest of them? Are they going to be ok with their child being friends with an Autistic child?

I fear that one day he will lose some of friends because of his need to always come in first, to always be the winner. And although other children may understand that its ok to take turns with winning, Logan is not able to understand this.

He is a smart boy. He knows his way around a smartphone, and tablets. He mastered his DS within hours.

I don't know what the future looks like. How he will do from day to day. How much things will change for him once he is in grade one, because sitting in a chair for long periods of time is not going to be his strong suit, but I will be there to help him succeed with it as much as possible.

The day will come when he does ask, and I am trying to prepare myself for it. I'm not sure what exactly I will say, but I'm working on it.

~ Life will knock you down more times then you can imagine, don't knock yourself down ~

Paying it forward

We have all heard of paying it forward. In big ways and little.

Sometimes it can change a persons life forever and sometimes it can change their day.

I always think, wow there is still compassion in the world today and how lucky those people are to receive such a gift from a complete stranger.

I never thought it would happen to me, until this morning.

I had just dropped my son off at school and decided to make the regular run to Tim Horton's. I pulled into the parking lot and saw the daunting long line of the drive thru. I had my daughter with me and I decided that I didn't really want to wrangle with the car seat straps again and, hey it wasn't like I was in a huge rush or anything so we waited. Inch by inch we got closer and I always notice the congestion in the parking lot from cars trying to pull in the other way, so I decided to let the lady across go in front of me, it clears up the congestion and she probably has somewhere to be, and like I said I wasn't in a hurry.

I pulled up and placed my order of just a coffee. My juice to keep me going in the morning! I pulled up to the window to pay and the lady says to me "and this morning this is absolutely free, the lady in front paid for your order." In that moment in that second I was touched. A complete stranger that I didn't know, have never met and will probably never meet decided to do something so nice for another stranger. She changed my morning.

Some mornings are not as easy as others. Someone is playing with someone else's toy, they don't want to get a shower, Logan doesn't want to wear a jacket even though its only nine degrees outside! But this morning a simple gesture from a stranger made my morning completely different.

I just want to say thank you to the lady in the blue car in front of me. Thank you for showing me that it can happen to anyone. Thank you for buying me my coffee this morning. It was something small but it means a lot to me. Its the little things in life that matter.

In a way it was another secret life lesson.

And now it is my turn to pay it forward.