Coming soon: a new version of the three amigos

March 28, 2010

First, I will apologize for anyone expecting an in-depth review of this week on the treadmill. Things are slowly moving a positive direction, and we’re hoping for continued forward progress. I just felt that with 6 more weeks left, solely focusing on that would be an injustice to all the other things we have going on.

This week was Nathan’s Spring Break. Some would call it Boys Gone Wild, but I’m still saving that title for later. If I thought that being the stay-at-home dad would be rough, without school there's no type of a break for Nathan from me. He sought even harder any chance to get out of the house. Together we learned that when you combine Nick, Nick2 and Nick Jr. there’s 2.5 hours of Dora the Explorer, 2.5 hours of Go Diego Go! every day, but it seems only 2 different episodes of each. If we didn’t have them memorized before the day started, we did by the end of each day.

Nathan did get two days this week of working at home with one of our college students. Even though we’d seen Kara at gymnastics many times she didn’t have a chance to work with him individually and see the progress that he’s made in the year. He was very glad to see someone new, who would work on different things with him, and play in a way a lot differently than I do. Hopefully Jessie will be able to play with him starting next week which would be a reason to work hard.

One nice thing to report is that it seems as though the seizures have subsided for the most part, but now they’ve been replaced with giggling spells. Most of the time coming from the most innocent of situations, he’s been cracking himself up to the point he’s given himself the hiccups. Nevertheless, we much prefer these bouts from the ones that the seizures brought.

Now back to the topic for this week’s posting. One of the great things of the seasons changing is the opportunity to get out, do more and see more. Over the last couple of months we have come in contact with two local (to us) families of PMG kids. We couldn’t get together fast enough, but trying to juggle everyone’s schedules, (especially ours) always seems to be a nightmare. This was the last week of open spaces in the schedule, because gymnastics starts up this Sunday (yes, Easter Sunday,) then equine therapy and then swimming in the near future.

We contacted one of the families and finally got to meet them in person. Being able to share stories, knowledge, and information is so relieving. It's nice spending time with other adults as well. We’re also in contact with the other family, and plans should be in place to meet with them soon as well. Best of all, everyone is going to be attending gymnastics this session which is another reason to get together regularly.

I have to say, that I really enjoy having this site, and sharing stories, but it can make for some awkward introductions. I’ve said before that everyone seems to know Nathan, wherever we go, and now, many people know my stories before we walk through the front door. I don’t regret it for a moment, but I almost feel like it’s a blind date (if I ever had gone on one) when the other person knows exactly who I am already.

I get to cheat with the next get together though. I’ve already met mom and daughter as we’ve talked after concurrent therapy sessions in January. Knowing all three kids, I can already seem getting along famously. The new three amigos will hopefully be able to have many enjoyable times together and the six parents possibly being able to get together will offer a great respite from daily life as well.

It’s amazing what opportunities are out there these days for special need kids. We are very fortunate to be able to share in some of these experiences, and meet some wonderful people along the way. Thank you to all who support, volunteer, share and promote such great facilities and organizations. The impact you bring to the kids is irreplaceable, and the connections they offer for parents can be a slice of sanity in an insane world.

I love the e-mails we receive. Each one seems to spur me on, and remind me why I stay up late Sunday nights trying to come up with something interesting to share. I value communicating with everyone who’s shared their story with us. I’ve lost count on the number of states, but this past week, we’ve heard from our fourth international family (Ireland.) We’d love to have the opportunity to see each and everyone of you, and hope that one day we will. Until then, keep sharing, caring and praying, none of us are alone, and together we grow stronger.

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