Poor Paramus

For some reason this struck me as funny today.  Talk about random!

 

Not available in Utah or Paramus, New Jersey.

Use of restraint in schools

How do you feel about the use of restraint in the public school system?  Let me rewind my saying that ever since I have begun this journey with Percy it seems that God keeps putting people in my path every.where. I go.  People I can connect with, commiserate with, encourage, maybe even help a little.  On the playground.  At the Children’s Museum.  At the hospital while I was supervising my grandmother’s vascular scan following a stroke (she is okay!).  These little divine appointments pop up when I least expect them. 

Yesterday I was at the park for a birthday party and spotted a kind-looking young man who also had Down Syndrome.  I smiled at him and so he walked near me, saying, “Hi!”  Soon thereafter I heard a woman use the word “accommodation” and my ears pricked up like a bunny rabbit.  I spun around and said, “May I please listen?”  (I always want to hear other people’s stories).  She was the young man’s mother and was expressing her frustration at the LACK of accommodation in his middle school.  She has not been satisfied with his IEP and he is not getting the assistance he needs.  The individuals teaching him are trained for behavioral problems, not developmental delays.  His mother feels he has been treated in a less than compassionate manner.  As a result her son became frustrated last week, refusing to get off a school bus.  Not violent, to my knowledge, just not compliant.  So they restrained him, causing many abrasions on his body.  His wounds were dressed by the school nurse and the rest of the day went on normally.  His parents were never called, the principal never notified.  Nothing.  The only reason his mom knew about the incident is that he showed her his scrapes the moment she got home.  She then called the school and the story was verified. 

Just call him The Flash

My Percy is fast, I tell ya, FAST!  I can’t keep track of the many times I have frantically chased after him as he gleefully ran away.  He doesn’t care where he goes, as long as he GOES.  Plus he has a habit of disappearing on me in public.  Am I the only one this has happened to?  My Mom claims she NEVER lost track of us when we were kids (even though I can clearly remember several instances of being lost in the store).

I know how that chipmunk feels!

This week I witnessed one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen in my whole life.  A chipmunk ran right into the waiting paws of a cat!  Poor chipmunk.  I know how it feels.

My neighbor’s cat and a chipmunk were both in the street as I was driving out of my neighborhood.  This cat has fully embraced his predatory nature, and he had probably been toying with the chipmunk for a while.  I am sure the chipmunk was already disoriented from that experience.  The cat saw me coming and crossed the street, stopping to rest under a car.  The chipmunk finally decided that getting out of the way of my minivan was a good idea, so it staggered across the street, under the car, and ran right into the belly of the cat!  Bam!  It bounced off the cat’s belly, tried to run, but was stopped by a furry paw.  The cat didn’t act surprised at all, calmly picking up the helpless chipmunk by the tail with his teeth and trotting across the street with his prize.  It was almost like he expected it!  “HA!  The little chipmunk fell right into my evil trap!”  That’s right, I said EVIL.  Not a big cat fan, gotta be honest with you.  And yes, I realize that chipmunks are very similar to mice, but this chipmunk was NOT in my house, so therefore I felt sorry for him… unlike the mice in my garage whose demise I recently orchestrated.  I guess in that case I was the cat, but I digress. 

Poor chipmunk.  I bet it was thinking, “Are you KIDDING me???!!??”  I immediately had to call a friend and say, “You won’t believe what I just saw!”  And then I started to wonder… how many times have I been that chipmunk?  I could SO relate!

100th post!!!!!

98, 99… 100!!  Took me long enough to get here!  I am also celebrating six whole months of blogging.  Instead of the traditional “100 things” post I think I will just talk about things that make me happy.  More specifically, my boys!!!  All THREE of them.  Did you know I have the three smartest, cutest, sweetest men on the planet under my roof?  

Let’s start with baby Percy.  He has made amazing progress since this blog started.  His language skills are growing at a rapid rate (hooray for speech therapy!), and he has really expanded socially and become very loving.  He loves to run around the house giving everyone sneak attach hugs.  I will be doing the dishes and all of a sudden -BAM- he rams into my legs and hugs me.  Other times he just rushes into the room and starts flapping his hand, waving, saying, “Hi Mommy… Hi Mommy… Hi Mommy…”-  I am finally Mommy, not Bahddie.  His articulation is getting better every day.  But oh how I already miss Bahhdie and Bardeey  (Barney) and Toadeey (Thomas).  Speaking of Thomas the Tank Engine, Percy can name like 50 different characters when you point to them.  Oh, and he can count to fifteen!  Sorta… “twelve, thirteen, fifteen, thirteen!”  Oh, and he can sing the alphabet song!  Speaking of singing, on my birthday recently he actually sang “Happy Birthday” to me!  It was adorable.  Actually, he spent the next few days singing Happy Birthday to me.  Every time he saw me eating birthday cake he stared singing it again.  I am not going to say how often that was *cough- a LOT-cough* .  And he kept saying, “Hoppy baardeey”.  Cute, I tell ya, cute.