The End of an Era

I realize it's been two weeks since I've posted, but that's not for a lack of writing topics. The last couple weeks have been particularly eventful at work, Dave has started back to school already and we've been gone the past couple weekends on adventures. When you add that with all the little things to do before school starts (like open houses, meet-n-greets, arranging childcare, pestering the bus company, figuring out how the religious education system works, etc.), it's been a bit challenging to pull myself away from The Great British Baking Show to update this blog in the evenings.

Anyways, last week was the end of an era for Teddy. It marked a stop in all outpatient therapy services, as well as horse therapy, as Teddy transitions to full days at school. . Teddy's had breaks in different therapies before, sometimes even a month or two, while we waited for the approval process to go through each time. But this is different. More permanent.

It's not that Teddy is magically ineligible for outpatient therapy. We could continue services, most likely only through our primary insurance since Medicaid believes that school and outpatient are duplicity of services despite distinctly different objectives. It's a matter of time and available effort, both for Teddy and myself. No matter how I tried, I couldn't figure out how it would work for Teddy to spend all day working hard at school and then ride a half hour to work for another 45 minutes when he's already exhausted. (Horse therapy was even harder to try to figure out because that's an hour drive.) Then add in the factor of trying to schedule those appointments after school hours and on days that I'm not working. It just didn't make sense.

It's not that Teddy wouldn't benefit from therapy because he does. The more therapy he receives, the better his chances of progress. But only if he's willing to work through the therapy sessions. Given how much he fights the activities when he's tired or simply not pleased with the tasks, I envision trying at the end of a long school day to be a miserable experience for all involved. Or at least an unproductive one.

So last week was bittersweet. Teddy's been doing horse therapy for more than a year and really enjoys that. That's the one therapy that I'm planning to try to fit into our schedule for spring semester because it's distinctly different than the other services he gets at school.

As for the rest, I'm hoping that last week was merely us saying, "See you in a few months when school gets out," rather than a goodbye. Teddy has worked with the same three therapists since he turned one: Ms. Pam for physical therapy, Ms. Kathleen for occupational therapy and Ms. Caitlin for speech therapy. We have spent countless hours between their therapy rooms and the waiting room. (My rough estimations would be at least 500 hours driving to/from and attending therapy appointments.) We've brought cookies and gifts for the holidays, shared milestones and memories and got so much support and encouragement from them. There were hugs goodbye for the boys, one last parting gift of homemade checkerboards from me to them and books and gifts for the boys.

Teddy likes his giant foam puzzle that was his parting gift. Particularly ripping it apart all around the house.

As they said, it's wonderful that Teddy is off to school full time to make friends, learn new things and build his skills, but it's bittersweet to say goodbye to therapists who became a part of our family.

Sweltering Summer Fun

AJ's had quite a few solo adventures this summer: a weekend with Dave's parents, a week with my parents, two nights in Milwaukee with my aunt and then last night with his babysitter in Green Bay. Since AJ had special plans, I wanted to make the most of my solo afternoon with Teddy.

That's why, despite it being 90 degrees, we headed to Bay Beach, which is a local amusement park where $5 got us both on the carousel, Scrambler, bumper cars, helicopter ride as well as rides for Teddy on the children's cars and fighter planes. 

Hanging out in the helicopter.

The carousel has been a favorite of Teddy's for quite some time, but I think it's safe to say that bumper cars is a new favorite. He loved crashing into others, being smashed into and steering our car.

We get to crash people!?!? Sweet!!!!

I discovered that the Scrambler is not my favorite. I swear birthing children messed up my equilibrium that rides like the Scrambler and even the Ferris wheel make me slightly queasy. Fortunately, Teddy seemed to enjoy it more than I did and didn't need my pep talk to get through it. (But I did.)

Teddy liked the car ride he did by himself, and he loved the fighter plane ride. As I watched him go round with the other children, I observed that Teddy looked downright joyful whereas other children simply looked happy. There was no child I saw with a bigger grin than Teddy, and he was the only child literally bouncing in his seat. (I could tell that because his plane was bouncing up and down.) 

He's ready to fly and fight!

The one thing that really made yesterday enjoyable was the disability access pass. We've never done this before, but I asked because I saw signs that they were available. It allowed us to bypass the lines and enter through the exits. Given the temperature and the fact that I was solo with Teddy, I decided to take advantage of it. It allowed me to park his chair right by the exit, help him out of his seat right before it was time to go and hop on the rides. I didn't have to fight him in lines, hold him when he collapsed his weight or otherwise wrestle him. It made the day so much more enjoyable and easier for him and me. 

Who would have thought there was "Fast Pass" for Bay Beach?

It's still one of those things that I feel slightly weird or even guilty about using, even though it's clearly designed for us to use. I think maybe that's why we got a few more bumps after skipping the long bumper car line, but, hey, Teddy liked them. 

Ordinary Summer Fun

This past weekend we went to a booyah, which is a Northeast Wisconsin tradition of making glorified chicken soup cooked outside in a giant kettle (think 50-gallon drum). Dave's aunt and uncle have a cottage right on a lake, so we spent most of our time in the water.

Both boys had a blast. Teddy spent most of his time on the boats, pretending to drive and hopping between the motor boat and the pontoon boat. He thoroughly enjoyed riding along while other kids went tubing. But then he had his turn riding on the tube behind the boat. Although we joked to his grandma that we were going to let him try by himself, he rode with me, Dave's cousin and her two young kiddos.

Teddy's smiling face pops up from the tube!

For me, these simple moments mean so much. Since we don't have a boat (despite Dave working for Mercury Marine), the opportunity to go tubing is a rare one for a children and such a fun experience. I'm grateful to give Teddy the chance for these "normal" childhood experience.

Often, Teddy's differences are quite noticeable, but he was just one of the kids (albeit chaperoned) enjoying a tube ride. Summer perfection.

Just a Little Different

Tonight we read "Just A Little Different" by Gina and Mercer Mayer. I remember reading the Little Critter books as a child, and this is not my favorite in the series as an adult. (As a child, my favorite was probably the "Just My Dad and Me" one that my brother hated after I was born.) It's a story about a critter named Zach who is half turtle and half rabbit who gets left out because he's a little different.

One critter tries to include him, but the other critters aren't welcoming. The wise mom said, "Being different is good. Our differences make us special." So the one critter continues being his friend, finds common interests and eventually the other critters warm up to Zack.

Life lessons in a book about critters.

The lessons from the story could apply to anything that makes people be viewed and treated differently, whether it's race, gender, disability or any other factor. The moral is simply that differences aren't bad and that we can find common ground with others who may seem different.

My favorite part while reading the story tonight was when I asked AJ what he would do if someone told Teddy that he couldn't do something because he was too different. His response, "I'd stand up for him."

Sweet dreams, my boys. Sweet dreams.

Teddy's Friend

It's hard to find time for play dates when you're gone on vacation for a couple weeks in the middle of the summer, bundles of appointments and just enjoying summer. But we changed that today when Teddy's friend Max came to visit today.

It's been nearly two months since the two have seen each other, but they picked up right where they left off: Max being goofy to make Teddy laugh hysterically. They got to spend about an hour and a half together having a great afternoon and "really good" dinner of corn dogs, grapes and oranges. (I like a kid like Max who doesn't have high standards.)

My heart is happy when the two of them are together, and AJ joined right in the mix today. I love hearing Max proclaim, "I'm Teddy's buddy, you know." When Max told me that he was Teddy's friend, I said I was very glad Teddy had a friend like him. AJ then chimed in, "Yeah, Teddy doesn't have a lot of friends ... because he has CDG."

Wowza. Sometimes AJ comes out of nowhere with these observations sometimes and stops me in my tracks. The reality is that Teddy's friendships will most likely always look a little different, but different isn't bad. Max knows that Teddy doesn't talk yet, but that doesn't stop Max from understanding Teddy. Max gets Teddy. And Teddy adores Max for that.

Also, Teddy makes far more casual acquaintances than I'll ever make because he smiles at everyone. You know how they've done social behavior studies with people as others enter the same elevator where people shift to have the most personal space, putz on their phones or otherwise find ways to avoid engaging? Teddy jumps up and down that he has friends on the elevator and smiles his charming smile because we all get to be together for that short ride.

As much as I appreciate that gift for making short-term friends with most people he meets, I really cherish the friendship he has with Max.