Lost and Found

Teddy and I were flying solo this weekend while Dave and AJ spent some quality time at the land. This morning we ran errands, and Teddy sat nicely in AJ's car seat. That's not always the case, since Teddy can unbuckle himself from that seat, which is why we reserve it for short trips. I didn't have the garage door opener in the vehicle, so I hopped out to open the garage door when we got home. I pulled in, parked and took the first load into the house, shutting the garage door as I went. I dropped the load and returned to the car for the second load and immediately noticed something was missing: Teddy.

It's normal for him to remain in the car while we unload or to unbuckle and play in the garage. This was not normal.

I immediately realized he had snuck out before the garage door shut and had a 30-60 second head start on me. I opened the garage door, frantically scanned outside, double-checked the garage and quickly called in the house for good measure.

Then I sprinted around the house, looking for any signs he went into the pond. Seeing none, I dashed up front and was ready to beeline to the neighbor's open garage door when another neighbor called that she had him.

Her boys had seen Teddy walk across their yard without me right behind him, alerted their mom and went after him. He made it to the next neighbor's house, where I found her holding his hand.

Teddy and I returned home with my heart racing. He may have only been gone for realistically 2-3 minutes, but that's long enough for something horrible to happen. Without the ability to speak and with water literally in our backyard, there's an awful lot of potential for awful to happen.

Thankfully, that wasn't the case today. We returned home safely, where I promptly thanked my neighbors via texts. We have incredible neighbors, and Teddy's guardian angel definitely has its hands full.

We went to the park this afternoon to make some positive memories. 

MTT Season Celebration

Tonight our home was full of friends made through myTEAM Triumph (MTT) to celebrate the end of the 2019 running season. For those who follow the blog, we got connected with MTT right when Teddy turned 3. It's a group that pairs able-bodied athletes with individuals with disabilities to give them the opportunity to participate in athletic events, most commonly runs although duathlons and triathlons aren't out of the question.

The group is so accepting and welcoming of all individuals and their families. We look forward to the start of training runs each year and realize when we attend the first one how much we missed it through the winter months. The season typically wraps up in early October, so we hosted a gathering to enjoy everyone's company again.

We had 4 captains with different personalities, abilities and disabilities, along with their families and a few of our regular angels and crew members. We had an abundance of food, but more importantly smiles, laughter and conversation. One of the angels brought a box of toys to share, so everyone had fun playing with "new" toys and even got to keep some of the toys.

This group is such a safe space for us, a place where Teddy is wholeheartedly accepted. He can grab anyone's hand and attempt to convince them to do anything, including climb into rather small waffle block creations for a grown adult. And they will. We all look out for each other's children, so we all get a chance to converse.

Heck, I even found someone to hang out with our boys for a couple hours Thursday to cover a gap since Dave will be out of town for work while I had a running event planned. And these are people who I'd trust because they have either raised children with significant needs and/or willingly spend their time every week volunteering with our Captains. They're solidly good people, and it is such a blessing to be a part of this organization.

Simple Memories

It's opening day of Wisconsin gun deer hunting season, so blaze orange is abound in the woods. There's also plenty of widow's weekend activities for the women who are supposedly abandoned by their husbands in lieu of deer hunting. Dave technically abandoned me with Teddy while he took AJ to the land to work on garage projects and spend some bonding time together.

Teddy and I spent the morning cleaning AJ's room (seriously three hours!). Since he wasn't home I was able to help my little horder get rid of all sorts of recycling and garbage and junk that hopefully he won't realize when he gets home. After lunch, we needed a fun break, so we headed to the outlet mall specifically because they advertised horse-drawn carriage rides for widow's weekend.

Ted and I stalked the carriage until we caught it and hopped on. The guy was super friendly (and willing to give us longer rides because there weren't tons of folks lining up for rides). We got to ride on both sides of the carriage and then even hopped up by the driver. He let Teddy drive.

Teddy's not quite ready for his driver license. 

The best was when he told Teddy he was doing a great job, which was immediately followed by Teddy dropping one of the reins. It slid over the front of the carriage and was hanging behind the horse on the ground. The guy quickly hopped over Teddy and me to hang outside the carriage to snag it and then offered to let Teddy drive again as long as he didn't drop the reins. He was someone who was super friendly, easygoing and accommodating. People like that make it so easy to enjoy experiences, and this was one I knew Teddy would love.

And he did.

Making memories on a horse-drawn carriage.

Second Least Favorite Thing

I took AJ for his flu shot today, which he was dreading. As we walked into the room with the nurse, he announced that flu shots are "his second least favorite thing." That prompted me to ask what his least favorite thing was, and the nurse began guessing. She guessed cleaning toilets, laundry, dishes, and vacuuming before AJ interjected, "It's my brother having seizures."

Well, then, yep, that's my least favorite thing as well. That stopped both the nurse and me in our tracks as we agreed that's definitely not a good thing and that the flu shot isn't as bad as that.

I'm often amazed at what pops out of his mouth and how insightful and connected to his brother he is. I was also amazed that the nurse asked if he wanted to pick out a sticker for him and Teddy. I did a doubletake and asked if AJ had said his brother's name was Teddy or how she knew Teddy. I might have inquired, "Does Teddy's reputation proceed him?" She laughed and said that she remembers kids' names and faces from all our visits, and shared that Teddy and AJ were some of her first patients. She then shared that she's loved watching Teddy grow through the years, learning to stand and then walk and that his progress has been amazing.

It was one of those little things where I never quite realized how much she knows and cares about our children, and it was worth the tears for the flu shot.

Double the Art, Double the Fun

When I picked Teddy up from school Friday, I had the chance to talk to his para who is working in the classroom all November. I asked how his day was, and she said he got art twice that day. He went with the first grader students, stayed for about 15 minutes to complete his project and then left while the rest of them finished class. He also went to his adapted art class with the other students in his special needs classroom. (It's weird, I'm not sure what to call his class ...)

She also mentioned that on Wednesday he went to all of gym class with the first graders. She said they ran for 7 minutes, and that Teddy ran with them the entire time. He was tired after gym class, but it was so wonderful to hear that he had the opportunity to participate for all gym class. See, I watched Teddy's adapted physical education class once, and it was like watching a room of ping pong balls bouncing around the gym because each child needed essentially 1:1 support to successfully follow the instructions for the activity. So I fully understand the effort it takes to include Teddy in a gym class with 20 other first grade students, but I feel it's so critical to his development, acceptance, learning and social inclusion.

The thing that really gets me about that gym class is that this is the child who we wondered and worried for the first nearly three years of his life whether he would ever walk independently. This same child ran with his friends for the entire 7 minutes of running in gym class. Now, that is beyond amazing.

This inclusion with his first grade peers takes effort, no doubt. It also takes a lot of coordination with his teachers, both in his classroom and the first grade teacher. It takes the principal listening to my concerns and the director of special education as well. It takes a whole team of people to make sure the supports are there, so Teddy can run with the other kids. It's something relatively simple that makes me so happy.

And, in case you wonder why we doubted whether he'd ever walk, here's the link to his first independent steps caught on camera. Our little drunk monkey has sobered up through the years, but he still walks like he's had a few too many. Maybe that's why he feels so little pain ...

Fun Winter Run

Teddy and I joined in a fun run this morning. It was a 3-mile run at his school designed to be a fundraiser for new playground equipment. That's certainly a cause Teddy would be willing to support since he loves recess and climbing everything. We hadn't planned to attend, though, until his teacher reached out and asked if we would be running. He shared that he was leading the race on his bike, so agreed to participate.

Just about as soon as I committed, I regretted it because our plans for garage building at the land were greatly delayed. That meant I left Viroqua at 5:05 this morning to drive in the dark, snow and slush back to Oshkosh to run the 9 a.m. race with Teddy. That's right. 5:05 in the morning. Snow and slush on November 2. This was also the third time it's snowed this week. That's way too much snow way too early in the year, even for Wisconsin standards.

Anyways, I picked up Teddy from my awesome mom who's been helping a lot with the boys while we've trekked to build the garage. I also loaded a race chair that we borrowed from myTEAM Triumph into my vehicle. Teddy was super excited to see a race chair in our own vehicle.

Teddy and his teacher were both excited to see each other. I think the weather scared off quite a few o the runners and walkers, but Teddy enjoyed himself all the same. And so did I. It was beautiful weather for running, and it was fun to get out with Teddy outside of the usual MTT training runs. It'll be so nice to have a chair of his own that we can use whenever we want.

Teddy and his fearless teacher. Fearless Teddy and his teacher. One of the two.

It's one of those little things, that offer to join from his teacher, that prompted us to join the fun. It was a great way to show others different ways Teddy can be included and participate in activities. Running is also one of the few times Teddy is content to sit still, so I'll take that even if it requires me to be in constant motion instead of him.