Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Kid B Makes a Discovery... and Contests Galore!

First, a couple of items of interest... at least to me:

1. Book Reviews:

Hubby Sam reviewed five books at his blog, including Andre Agassi's autobiography and Todd Strasser's Wish You Were Dead. If you like to read, check it out.

2. More Chances for Free Books:

My WIFYR (Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers) contest is open until the end of the month. Basically if you're not signed up for this most excellent conference and you sign up before March 31st, and then you leave me a comment telling me you did, you will be entered in a drawing to win one of five signed books! (Chances are very very good you'll win.)

Also, if you tweet about the contest and the workshop, I'll put an entry in for you.

Tweeting/blogging/facebooking: +1 entry
Signing up: +5 entries

You can leave a comment here telling me your entries, or on the original contest post. Yeah, I know. It's confusing. But not really.

Fellow 6-er and #2 Crazy Emily Wing Smith is holding a contest too. You don't even have to register to enter hers. You can tweet about it or blog about it or other easy stuff.

Another fellow 6-er and #4 Crazy Valynne Nagamatsu is doing a contest too.

And again, fellow 6-er and #5 Crazy Kim Reid is in on the action too.

So basically, you can sign up for the conference (or even leave a comment in some cases) and enter all contests!

Coincidentally, if you sign up for Emily Wing Smith's workshop, you'll be hanging with 1/3 of the 6. If you only sign up for the afternoons (a bargain at $125) you'll meet 5/6 of the 6. Sorry if that's confusing, I just love to use fractions to describe social events.

On to the post...

So, if you've been a long-time reader of the blog, you may have deduced I have a boy with special needs. I don't blog about it a lot, but something happened this week that cracked me up.

(Kid B playing the piano, and his cousin Asher digging for treasure)

When you have a kid with special needs, you celebrate every accomplishment just as you would with an average kid. Their little successes might appear smaller, but they're not. You just have to use the right lens.

So we often find ourselves making announcements  like, "Kid B knows where his ears are!" and "Kid B only sang the alphabet song three times today!"

We celebrate every tiny step forward, and we're lucky that he has teachers who join in the celebration and document his progress in a daily journal. 
Nothing comes easy, and little jobs like potty-training last for years, it seems. The journey is arduous, but not without its moments of levity. 

On Kid B's latest progress report, his teacher wrote:

"B's doing much better on the playground. He's actually exploring the equipment... Instead of just playing with the wood chips."

So, after nearly a year, Kid B noticed the playground housed more than woodchips, and he was excited. And it became a milestone. Like: "By 4 years and 3 months of age, child should discover that woodchips are not the funnest part of the playground." He's right on target.

We laughed so hard. I don't know if this is universally funny, or if it's "special needs" funny, or funny ha ha, or funny wah-wah wah. But it's been two days, and I'm still laughing, so I thought I'd share and you can laugh with us.

17 comments:

  1. That's really cute and I'm glad that he's finally noticing something other than the wood chips. I love his face in the second photo. So cute!

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  2. Kid B rocks. Seriously. I can't say enough good things about that boy. Just happy with the world...give him his dinosaur, kid C to run around with and he would be a happy boy.

    Your husband's blog looks awesome.

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  3. That's awesome Brodi! Way to go Kid B!!

    Hope you all have a GREAT day!!

    Oh, and to answer your question to me from the other day, funerals are funny because we humans LOVE to make fun of what we do not know. For me, I laugh at people who are calm...living stress free lives. Oh, and intelligent people! =)

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  4. Thanks y'all. He is a great kid, but I'm kinda biased.

    Una- I always chortle (sort of like a laugh and a snort, with a touch of giggle) at people who live stress-free lives. And there's nothing funnier than intelligent people, walking around, being intelligent.

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  5. Yea for kid B! I know exactly how you feel. Kid B and C in my family are both special needs. Our milestones are very similar. We had a note from the teacher saying she stopped by the lunch room and couldn't find my son because he wasn't humming, just eating. It was a good day.

    And I'm going to WIFYR. Are you? I thought you were going to be out of town.

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  6. Leisha- That is too funny about the humming. Kid B sings the ABC's constantly.

    Okay, so I'm still going to be out of town, but 5/6 of the 6 are going to be at the conference. That's almost like me going... Argh! I'm so mad I'm missing it!

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  7. hey my 40 something yr. old husband thinks the wood chips are the best part of any playground--
    what does that say about him? LOL

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  8. I love it! He is such a cutie-patuty!

    Wood chips are the best part of the play ground. They are softer on your back than the asphalt :)

    BTW - 1/3 of the 6 plus CAM!!!! You will sell out if you add that tidbit! I can't wait!

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  9. Dorien- At least neither of them eat the woodchips... I hope.

    Cam- You're right! 1/3 of the 6 plus Cam! Get your tickets right here!

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  10. Great photos Brod. He is such a cutie! And his cousin digging for gold (so appropriate on St. Patty's Day) - priceless.

    I have to hand it to you and Sam for the way you handle everything. You laugh easily and it's so good. My girls have always loved wood chips. There's more than enough to go around. They don't fight over who gets to "go first," no one is elbowing them out of the way, and they don't have to share! Voila! Kid B is brilliant!

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  11. Cath- Yes, Kid B is above the curve on this one, I think. And is there another way to deal with it than to laugh about it?

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  12. That conference is within walking distance of my parents house. Too bad I don't have a week to spare. And too bad I don't write... yet. Someday, Brodi, someday.

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  13. Classic picture of Asher picking for his treasures. Congrats to Becks! Although I have found many a time wood chips to be much more interesting that the actual playground. So I think Becks is right on target!

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  14. OK, I did it! I'm officially broke 'cause I registered for WIFYR. Not really. Our kids will escape starvation this week. Unless I forget to pack their lunches. I already told you this when you first mentioned the contest, but I blogged about it, too. You know, I couldn't call myself a writer if I didn't get redundant once in a while.

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  15. Heids- Lack of money, time and motivation is no excuse! :)

    Erin- I love that pic of Asher.

    Kaylie- Yay! I'm so excited you signed up! I can tell you right now that your chances of winning a signed book are like 110%.

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  16. Yay for woodchips! My own kids love them so much that they come home with us in every pocket or cuff! Then I get the lucky task of discovering them in my laundry!!! I should keep them and start my own woodchip hoard that I never have to share! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

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  17. Kaylie- If you're out there, you won a book! Email me your address (my email is brosam (at) gmail (dot) com. Once you email me, I'll let you know your choices.

    Thanks!

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