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Vaccine Drama: 5 Ways to Help with Needle Anxiety
Needle anxiety, or needle phobia, is very real for many kids and adults. One of my girls has anxiety, which is extremely pronounced around needles. When she was a baby she never balked at getting her vaccines. She was happy go lucky and hardly noticed at all. Then in the blink of an eye at around school age she started to be a worrier. She worried about everything. I worried that she was worrying too much. Anyways you get the idea. We plugged in some supports and she manages most days very well. She has strategies. But the one area of anxiety that has never been manageable is vaccines. She…
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My Hopeful Year for 2014 Tween Fashion
Back in August of 2013, I wrote a fashion rant from the perspective of an annoyed Mom, and then hit publish and left it behind to do its thing. A Mom of tween fashion rant to be exact. Oh I noted a few comments over time and some tweets and so forth on the post, but I moved on to other topics. Today, because I am backtracking trying to learn a few things about what worked well on the blog in 2013 and what didn’t work well, I hit upon this back to school post again. It was one of my best viewed health posts all year. That gave me…
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I’ve Misplaced My Joy – On Holiday Grief
I knew the holidays would be hard, but I didn’t expect this. I’ve been crying for days on and off and I am trying my damnedest not to ruin the holidays for my kids. But I miss my Mom. And I’ve clearly misplaced my joy. Holiday grief is challenging this season. Christmas Eve Day and Holiday Grief It’s Christmas Eve Day, the culmination of a season weighty with emotion. A time for joy and celebration and yet the closer we get to Christmas, the more I seem to be crying. In quiet moments, my heart replays a continuous loop of all the sights and sounds from every Christmas…
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How to Write an All About Me Booklet for Your Special Needs Child
This All About Me Special Needs Book is one of my favourite tools for my daughter. I’ve had one for Ainsley for several years now and it is always well received by teachers, coaches and others who work with her regularly. These All About Me Special Needs Booklets work well when your child is young and unable to tell people what he or she needs. We used them often for Ainsley, especially at camp. The idea is that you can use them as a tool for helpers, teachers or support staff when dealing with a child who has medical needs or disability of any sort. I’ve been promising my readers…
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My Family Medical Records Saga #health
This is the story of how my medical records got taken for ransom. Well, perhaps that’s a bit dramatic. But last week I got a call from a private service telling me I can buy back copies of my family’s medical records for the Low Low price of $500. So this is what happened next…I texted, tweeted, messaged, bartered, and complained. Then I wrote a post that got me syndicated over at Blogher.com. Read the full post here on Blogher.com. It’s called That Time I had to Pay $500 for my medical records. If you love me, share the post or tweet it or leave me a comment over there. Thanks!
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The Good News/ Bad News Week and #Giveaways
Shutterstock images This was an oddball week. A dog’s breakfast really. My kitchen is done. Stay tuned for the reveal. It looks great. So Yay! I had a stager come and look at our house to see what needs to be done. Boo. Not suprisingly she loved the new kitchen. Yay. And hated everything else. Boo. Just kidding. She didn’t really say that. I mean she’d not have many clients if she did, right? So painting and decluttering has become my life. Yay! I mean Boo! I had a pile of giveaways launched and a pile more coming next week. Yay! And I am getting a bit excited about Blissdom…
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Bittersweet August Algebra #specialneeds
August is the strangest month if you parent a child with special needs. Why is that? Patience and I will tell you. August is day camps, if you are lucky, and if you have found a camp that can accommodate a child with whatever needs your child might have. It is cottage and beach and sand and water and full on sensory experiences pretty much everywhere. Swimming, I am told, by a very clever friend of mine is akin to the body receiving a full head to toe hug. The ultimate sensory immersion experience. My girl has some special needs, not the least of which is the sensory processing disorder,…
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Back to School Shopping with Sears #SearsBTS
Five outfits. Two girls. Just over $100. I Love the math this year!! Yesterday was Back To School Day. We started the day with martial arts day camp, because it is a very busy work week for me, but I pulled my youngest out for a quick school visit to familiarize her with the building and the classroom again. It’s one of those necessary events that happen most years in late August. The visit went really well and it was funny seeing the school so empty and messy still. (Lots of work to do there before Sept. 3rd) Ainsley met up with her teacher and gave her a quick update…
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Why I am Relieved: On Autism, #Special Needs and Hate
Sometimes I wonder how does hate help anyone? It is a horrible vile and debilitating feeling to carry around as a human being. And it doesn’t help anyone in a minority community, not that hateful people consider that. How is hate allowed to fester? Of that, I have no clue, but it is in fact more prevalent in neighbourhoods and institutions than you’d ever believe. This week we saw that with this horrendous letter that circulated on the news and on line. My daughter last year. Sometimes this is what special needs looks like. By now you have all heard of the horrid hateful letter sent from a neighbour to an…
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A Word Called Inclusion: #Specialneeds at Camp
Remember this? Two weeks ago, when I was heading off to Chicago, I was still agonizing over whether Ainsley, my busy, sporty girl with special needs, could handle sleep away camp. I wrote a whole post about children with special needs at camp. Parents of special needs children are used to worrying. We worry about finances, and school, and life when we are gone. We worry our kids may never be able to cope fully, and enjoy, and be supported in the world without us. We worry with good reason, because frankly I have seen systems and systemic failures for children with special needs in areas of school, home, child welfare…
